Two of the leading contenders for this season’s Hong Kong Football Association Championship, Sun Pegasus and South China, gained close victories on Saturday’s (Sept 28) first division action to lead the standings table at the end of day’s play.
But they held these lofty positions for just one day, with Kitchee regaining top ranking after winning Sunday’s match.
Sun Pegasus are the only side with a 100 per cent win record after defeating Royal Southern 2-1 at Mongkok Stadium.
Meanwhile, last season’s champions, South China won 2-0 against Sunray Cave JC Sun Hei at the Hong Kong stadium.
In the day’s other game, Yokohama FC drew 1-1 with Eastern Solon at Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground.
On Sunday (Sept 29), Kitchee defeated Citizen 3-1 to return to the leadership of the division. Kitchee had recently returned from Jordan where they lost 2-1 in the away leg of their AFC Cup knock out game, the same score as their home leg tie.
Kitchee, like Sun Pegasus, are undefeated and have won three and drawn once. Kitchee on 10 points lead the HKFA standings, but have played one more match than Sun Pegasus (9). South China (7) are third having also played four matches.
There was some criticism of the refereeing at some of the games, though the officiating at games in the SAR has long been a concern for many involved in the competition.
In the HKFA second division, Woofoo Tai Po’s 4-1 defeat of Tai Chung and Wong Tai Sin’s 1-0 defeat of HKFC saw them as joint leaders of the league in its early stages. Lucky Mile, Double Flower, Kwai Hing and Kwun Tong picked up their first wins of this year’s campaign.
Yau Yee League
In a scrappy and niggly game at Sports Road, Swiss XI took an early lead against reigning first division champions HKFC Wanderers, through a fine free kick from the edge of the penalty box through the defensive wall, after five minutes.
However, Swiss XI then decided to spend most of the remainder of the game concentrating on defending their lead robustly rather than posing any significant offensive threat. Swiss continued their defensive tactics even though Wanderers’ replacement centre forward came on five minutes into the second half, only to last a further five minutes.
One of many fouls that littered the game led to a confrontation between those involved, leading to the Wanderers player being sent off for violent conduct.
Despite being down to 10 men, Wanderers took the game to the Swiss, but with few clear-cut chances. With about five minutes remaining, Wanderers’ Paul Jarrett took the defender on just into the right hand corner of the box, only to be tripped and awarded a penalty, which was duly despatched by Scott Hooper to tie the game. While both teams battled to score, at the final whistle the score was 1-all.
In the following game between HKFC Albion and Store House Squadron, it was an open end-to-end encounter between two attacking teams. It was settled by a goal in each half from Squadron who ran out 2-0 winners.
Meanwhile, Interglobo Colloids defeated Colts 2-0.
Significantly, USRC and GAS also won their games leading the battle for the championship in the early stages. They are looking as likely challengers to the Wanderers, USRC, KCC Dragons and Albion, who have won the YYL championship in the past four years. Squadron and GAS also look capable of challenging at this early stage in the season.
Early leaders for the Yau Yee League second division are Mobsters, CAPS for the third division, with HPSS and Rising Sun tied for the fourth division.
Asian Under 16 Championship
Last week also saw the completion of Group G qualifying for the Asian Under 16 Championship final to be held in Thailand in 2014.
There are a total of 10 qualifying groups for the Championship, with Group G comprising teams from Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore.
Each team played each other over the course of eight days at the Hong Kong Football Club at Sports Road, Happy Valley, with the top team achieving automatic qualification for the finals. The five best second place finishers in each of the groups also qualify.
Australia gained automatic qualification due to their winning all four of their matches.
Hong Kong are in with a good chance of being one of the five best second placed group teams after winning three of their four games, losing their game with Australia only.
