Holders Sun Hei gained a slender advantage after the opening salvos were fired in Group B of the Sunray Cave League Cup, defeating Fukien 1-0 while last season's beaten finalists and current league leaders Happy Valley held Kitchee 2-2 at Mongkok Stadium last night.
Sun Hei needed a deflected shot from Cornelius Udebuluzor with 15 minutes to go for what owner Raymond Chow Man-leung readily conceded was 'a lucky win' against a Fukien side whose counter-attacking style is growing more sophisticated.
Happy Valley twice had to rely on Guy Ambassa to haul them back on level terms with Kitchee, who led through Leandro Dos Santos's thumping 12th-minute header and Tam Siu-wai's 36th-minute chest down and shot.
'We thought at 2-1 we had enough chances to have won the game; it's unlucky for us, but it's still the best game we've played all season,' said Kitchee's teenage striker Chan Siu-ki.
Inevitably the referee, this time Chan Siu-kee , was at the centre of controversy. Chan first turned down a seemingly legitimate Kitchee goal, instead penalising winger Kleber De Lima for his part in a collision with goalkeeper Leung Cheuk-cheung that left the Brazilian with serious knee-ligament damage.
The 42-year-old Fifa referee then stunned Valley by failing to award a spot kick when Fabio Lopes Alcantara was brutally dragged out of mid-air by Leandro clearly hanging on to his shirt tails.
'The whole stadium saw a 100 per cent penalty. Everyone saw it except him,' fumed Valley manager Lim Fong Kee, who last week called for a crisis meeting to discuss the match officials.