Kitchee kick off Sapling Cup with convincing 5-1 win over Eastern
- Despite trailing early, Kitchee bounce back with 5 goals in a row to register another strong win
- Sham Shui Po score first draw against Football Club after 4 defeats under new coach Kenneth Kwok
Kitchee kicked off their Sapling Cup campaign with a bang after thrashing rivals Eastern 5-1 in Group B at Mong Kok Stadium on Sunday.
Mikael Burkatt, who played for Eastern last season, scored a brace while prolific striker Dejan Damjanovic also found the net twice, including a penalty in the second half before the 41-year-old was substituted. Newly signed Muchail Manias was also on the score sheet after he put the icing on the cake in stoppage time.
Victor Bertomeu put Eastern into the lead early in the first half when the match was still evenly contested but Kitchee gradually got the upper hand when they started pressing hard for the equaliser and ended the first period with a 2-1 lead.
Young Eastern goalkeeper Chung Hoi-man then made a blunder that might have led to the disastrous result as he lost the ball under the pressure of Ruslan Mingazov and brought him down inside the box to concede a penalty midway through the second half. The cup tie requires each side fielding three under-22 players at one time on the pitch.
“We did not deserve such a result and the penalty changed the match,” Eastern coach Roberto Rosada said. “But the young goalkeeper has to go through a learning process like this and this is also why we have the Sapling Cup to give them the opportunity to learn from mistakes.”