Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Hong Kong: AFC Champions League aspirants Kitchee SC went down 3-2 to Eastern SC in the final of the 2014/15 HKFA Canbo Senior Shield at Hong Kong Stadium on Saturday.
Kitchee found themselves a goal down after just 11 minutes when Croatian attacker Miroslav Saric fired home a low shot of the inside of the post before AFC Foreign Player of the Year 2014 nominee Juan Belencoso restored parity seven minutes from the interval after converting a cross from Ghana-born Hong Kong international Christian Annan.
Both sides had chances to seize the initiative after the restart before Eastern regained their lead in the 65th minute when Australian striker Dylan MacAllister – who was part of the Central Coast Mariners side that made their AFC Champions League debut in 2009 – fired home the loose ball after Kitchee keeper Guo Jianqiao parried Liang Zicheng’s shot.
Guo was beaten for a third time with seven minutes remaining when Saric capitalised on a mistake in the Kitchee defence to make it 3-1 to Eastern and while Spanish striker Jordi Tarres reduced the deficit in stoppage time, the three-time Hong Kong league top scorer’s goal was a mere consolation.
Kitchee face a tough trip to Thailand to face Chonburi in Preliminary Round 2 of the ACL qualifiers on February 10 with the winner taking on Kashiwa Reysol in Japan a week later for a place in Group E of the AFC Champions League.
Should Kitchee lose at any stage of the AFC Champions League qualifiers then they will have the consolation of a place in this year’s AFC Cup, with the reigning Hong Kong Premier League champions drawn in Group F where East Bengal of India, Singapore’s Balestier Khalsa and either Johor Darul Ta’zim or Selangor depending on whether or not JDT can successfully negotiate their ACL preliminary round matches.
Photo: HKFA