One point from their final two league matches will seal title
So much for a three-way playoff for the league title - Sun Hei did everything but walk away with the silverware, as they beat leaders Kitchee 4-1 and capitalised on Happy Valley's stunning 5-0 loss to South China, eliminating them from the title race, at Hong Kong Stadium yesterday, to leave themselves one win away from the championship.
'We're one per cent away from being champions. Everybody knew if we won this game it would mean the championship,' said Sun Hei's veteran Lee Kin-wo, who at 36 years showed the enthusiasm of a puppy at the thought of winning the title. 'It's very exciting, very exciting. We knew if we won this game we'd be 99 per cent there.'
Yesterday's win means Sun Hei lead the table by two points from Kitchee with a game in hand. Victory in their next match, against the bottom club Fire Services who have won only once all season, will clinch first place, a fact that Sun Hei coach Koo Luam Khen remained completely oblivious to.
'I don't really calculate. I just think about keeping picking up points,' he said. 'So, we've got to get a result against Fire then the mission is accomplished,' he concluded when the situation was explained to him.
Happy Valley's unexpected annihilation at the hands of South China had changed the complexion of the Sun Hei-Kitchee clash. From appearing like the first of an exciting trilogy, which would feature Valley's match against both those clubs, the game became a de facto championship match. The only thing predictable about what was to follow was that the inexperience of 24-year-old referee Wong Chi-tang, controlling only his fifth game since being promoted from the ranks of linesmen, would be exposed.
It took just 12 minutes. Kitchee teenager Chan Siu-ki headed into the Sun Hei penalty area with Tseng Siu-wing clinging blatantly, on to the back of his shirt. The 18-year-old eventually went down like a sack of spuds and, unbelievably, Wong waved play on.
