Punjab-A and Singh Sabha Sports Club (SSSC-A) both won against lower level opponents on Sunday Dec. 7, but in the big match of last weekend HKFC-A were well and truly beaten by Khalsa-A in the Hong Kong Hockey Association Premier Division match at King’s Park.
I cannot remember HKFC-A losing 8-goals in a Premier division match as long as I have been watching HK hockey, but they did last Sunday against a Khalsa team that were on the top of their form. The highly talented squad played superb hockey from start to finish.
Fast and secure in defence with a back line of 4-playes for much of the game Khalsa snuffed out advances by Club, stealing the ball before the Club attackers could penetrate the scoring zone. Fast and elusive in attack, accurate passing of the ball, great stick work and dribbling skills to put the HKFC defence under severe pressure throughout the match.
Club’s goalie Vincent Cheung, alert to the dangers at all times, had his hands above his head watching for danger for much of the game. But sadly for Club, this was not enough.
Admittedly Club were short of at least one attacker (Will Glover) and one defender (Captain Kieran Smith) which might have made a difference. But Khalsa, in this match were “on song” and nothing was going to stop them. HKFC did have a few sharp chances which, had they been converted may have changed the game. Also, Yan Adams made some good penetrating attacking moves for Club but these were generally stopped short of the scoring zone.
It is difficult to highlight any particular player from the Khalsa side as they all contributed to the win, but Ishtiaq Ahmed was as usual was very prominent and converted a number of the Khalsa goals.
All Khalsa Manager, Gurcharan Singh, would say in his normal understating style, was “the lads played well today”. That was sufficient as they had demonstrated their superiority on the pitch, much to the delight of their supporters, winning the match 8-2.
Umpires Ernest Li and Khalid Husain also contributed to an enjoyable match, allowing the game to flow whilst at the same time controlling the game well.
Other Matches
Punjab-A and joint leaders Singh Sabha Sports Club (SSSC-A) both won their matches against Shaheen-A and Pak-A respectively. The 6-3 win for Punjab against Shaheen was a little flattering for league leaders as the young Shaheen side backed up by the experience of the Ali brothers gave almost as much as they got. Shaheen were fast in the tackle and on attack and were a little unlucky with the final shots, but maybe Punjab were relaxing a little saving a bit of their strength for the big match with Khalsa next week. SSSC-A won their match against Pak-A with a 5-2 scoreline.
The match this coming Sunday Dec. 14 between Khalsa and Punjab should be “the match” of the first half of the season and if Khalsa turn on the style again next week, Punjab will need to up their game if they are going to come away with the spoils.
In the other matches KNS-A beat HKCC-A 4-1 and HKFC-B had a good win against KCC-A 4-1.
Next matches
The final round of matches before the end-of-year break, take place this weekend Sunday Dec. 14. At King’s Park: Punjab-A play Khalsa-A at 4.00pm, KNS-A meet Pak-A at 2.15pm and KCC-A play Rhino-A at 12.30pm. At Sports Road: HKFC-B entertain Shaheen-A at 2.15pm and HKFC-A play SSSC-A at 4.00pm. At Valley 1: Valley-A play HKCC-A at 4.00pm.
