Kitchee end Lee Man title dream as Eastern keep pace in Hong Kong Premier League
- Hong Kong Premier League champions snuff out Lee Man’s league title hopes, while bottom side Southern drop points to Pegasus
- Sapling Cup finalists Eastern and Happy Valley both win ahead of Wednesday’s big game
Kitchee against Lee Man was the main event, with the latter looking to stay in touch with the league leaders and champions at Tseung Kwan O Stadium on Saturday evening.
It was a nervy affair in the opening exchanges with clear-cut chances at a premium in a goalless first half.
The deadlock lasted less than 10 minutes after the restart when Matthew Orr reacted sharpest to head home a Cleiton free kick.
Lee Man threatened but it was Kitchee danger man Dejan Damjanovic who proved decisive, picking out Manu Gavilan to fire home on 67 minutes to seal the points. That makes it five goals and three assists in eight games since Damjanovic moved to Hong Kong.
Kitchee’s victory all but ended Lee Man’s faint title hopes and their hopes of silverware will be focused on the AFC Cup. As for the league, it looks like a battle between them and Eastern, who kept up the pace with a 5-0 win over Resources Capital on Saturday in the weekend’s opening game.
Fernando opened the scoring after 12 minutes and Eastern never looked back, with the winger turning provider for Joao Emir to double the lead just after the half-hour mark.
It remained 2-0 at the break before Eastern turned on the style in the second half. Fernando added another before Sandro got in on the act with Naveed wrapping it up.
It was the ideal preparation for Wednesday’s Sapling Cup final, though opponents Happy Valley will also go into the final-that-was-never-meant-to-be with a spring in their step after beating Rangers.
Rangers took the lead against the run of play after 39 minutes, with Walter Junior bravely heading home at the far post before going off injured.
Valley left it very late to come back against Rangers but walked away with three points thanks to a Mikael Severo double in the last five minutes.
The first saw him fire home from inside the box before a controversial last-gasp spot kick for a high challenge. Mikael kept his cool and slammed into the roof of the net for the three points.
Lee Man refuse to play Sapling Cup semi, handing Happy Valley place in final against Eastern
The timing of the win could not be better, with Happy Valley leapfrogging RCFC in the league and going into the cup final on the back of a rare victory.
Neither side has won the Sapling Cup and it has been 17 years since Happy Valley lifted any cup, with the final providing a welcome distraction from the Hong Kong Premier League.
What Southern would give for that distraction or three points.
The Aberdeeners hosted Pegasus at Aberdeen Sports Ground, returning home for the first time in months, but home advantage failed to help them.
Southern took the lead through Stefan Pereira, whose opening day hat-trick against Pegasus secured the team’s only win this season, nodding home after 2o minutes.
The lead lasted for three minutes when Pegasus’ Sun Ming-him reacted fastest to a rebound to slot home and so it stayed until half-time.
Southern took the lead again early after the restart with James Ha the first to react to a rebound after Pereira tested Pegasus stopper Leung Hing-kit.
The joy was again short-lived as two minutes later the scores were level thanks to Jose Borges getting on the end of a Law Hiu-chung corner.
Worse was to come for Zesh Rehman’s bottom-placed side when Jose Dos Santos slotted in an 87th minute winner for Pegasus to take all three points.
