Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Hong Kong: Captain Festus Baise struck a last-minute winner as Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield winners Citizen edged out Myanmar’s Yangon United 2-1 at Mongkok Stadium on Wednesday to record a first win of the AFC Cup campaign in Group G.
An acrobatic strike from Serbian forward Milan Jovanovic five minutes after the hour mark appeared to have earned Yangon a second draw of the campaign after cancelling out Brazilian defender Helio’s 51st minute header for Citizen.
But in the last minute of normal time, Nigerian defender Baise surged clear of the Yangon defence to snatch the win for the home side as Citizen picked up their first points in Group G after losing 3-1 in Singapore to Home United two weeks ago.
“Our team performance was very good, especially in the second half,” said Citizen coach Chu Kwok Kuen.
“Yangon United are a very strong team and over the last 10 years no Hong Kong team has beaten them, now we have made history.
“Despite the win, we will stick to the plans we made at the start of the season and not put too much pressure on the players as we want them to gain experience to make our team stronger.”
Mladen Ristic was presented with the best chance of the opening 45 minutes midway through the first half, but after swiveling inside the area, the Serbian striker fired a weak shot straight at Citizen goalkeeper Tse Tak Him.
Chance remained at a premium until Citizen broke the deadlock six minutes into the second half as Helio ghosted in unmarked at the back post to direct Wong You Fu’s flighted free-kick back across the face of goal and into the far corner.
But the visitors equalised 14 minutes later courtesy of a spectacular overhead kick from Jovanovic, who showed superb control to bring the ball down near the penalty area before guiding the ball into the bottom corner.
Yangon substitute Yan Aung Win was denied by Citizen goalkeeper Tse before blazing the follow up over the crossbar as the visitors looked for a second soon after.
But with stoppage time approaching, Baise raced onto a lofted through ball after checking his run and fired low into the bottom corner between the outstretched foot of Yangon goalkeeper Naing Zayar Tun and the left upright.
“Overall we played well, but unfortunately we could not take our chances,” said Yangon United coach Eric Williams.
“We had seven corners but could not score from any of them. I am disappointed with some of the players because they lost concentration during the match.”