Hong Kong Premier League title race thrown wide open after Hoi King shock hopefuls Southern
- Bottom club gets first top flight win and prevents Southern from taking top spot
- Top five teams are within three points with over half the season played
Nowhere more so than at Sham Shui Po Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon where the shock of the season was delivered.
Title challengers Southern were beaten by new boys Hoi King, a team that finished eighth in last season’s First Division but were promoted because the teams above them shunned the opportunity to go pro and join the top flight.
Southern had beaten champions Kitchee in their last league game while Hoi King had lost 6-2 to Pegasus, which came on the back of a 5-0 defeat to R&F.
Hoi King also lost the reverse fixture against Southern 3-1 back in September. This marks their first win in the Hong Kong Premier League and only the second match where they have won any points after a 0-0 draw with Yuen Long in December saw them get off the mark.
Roberto Santos was the man to make history with a 75th minute winner, the substitute coming off the bench to score on his debut.
With four points from 10 games, they are averaging 3.6 goals against them per game and scoring less than one goal per game. Their heaviest defeat was 8-1 to Kitchee.