Results in the Hong Kong Football Association Championship and Yau Yee League in the past week generally saw the leaders go further in front in the standings in most of the competitions’ divisions.
Significantly, in the HKFA Championship First Division, Sun Pegasus failed to become joint leaders in the standings by losing their game in hand in the only league game played over the weekend.
Meanwhile, in the YYL Division One, the previous week’s two-way tie was reduced to one following HKFC Wanderers’ draw with the Store House Squadron, while USRC thrashed French Kiss 9-1 to gain sole leadership.
Chance missed in HKFA Championship
In Saturday (Nov 9) action in the HKFA First Division, Sun Pegasus missed a chance to become joint leaders with Kitchee after surrendering a two goal lead and eventually losing to Sunray Cave JC Sun Hei 3-2.
Sun Pegasus took the lead in the 23rd minute when Ju Yingzi opened the scoring by firing past goalkeeper Wang Tsz-hui. Sun Pegasus doubled their lead in the 46th, minute when Jaimes Mckee passed to Landon Ling who scored.
Sunray Cave JC Sun Hei pulled a goal back in the 79th minute when So Wai-chuen conceded an own goal. This was quickly followed in the 83rd minute by an equaliser from Cheung Kwok-ming. Finally, Reinaldo Peres scored in the 90th minute to seal a comeback win and end Sun Pegasus’ undefeated record.
This means that Kitchee head the standings on 16 points with a game in hand over South China, who are 2 points behind. Sun Pegasus are next on 13 points having played the same number of games as Kitchee.
In Saturday’s other game, Kitchee played a Canbo Senior Shield tie with BC Rangers, where the latter emerged 2-1 victors to eliminate the HKFA league leaders from this knock-out tournament.
BC Rangers opened the scoring in the 2nd minute when Lee Gilhoon converted a cross from Lam Hok-hei and doubled the lead in the 55th minute when Tales Schultz headed on a corner for Lam Hok-hei to finish.
Although Kitchee pulled a goal back in the 70th minute when Jorge Tarres headed in Daniel Cancela’s cross, they could not produce anything further to stop BC Rangers advancing to the next round.
In Sunday’s Canbo Senior Shield game, Eastern Salon won 3-1 against I-Sky Yuen Long. Eastern Salon opened the scoring in the 7th minute through Roberto Fronza and doubled the lead in the 19th minute when Giovane Da Silva scored the second goal.
I-Sky Yuen Long quickly countered in the 22nd minute through Fabio Alcontara to reduce the deficit. Eastern Salon eventually secured progress to the next round when Giovane Da Silva scored his second goal in the 90th minute to seal the game.
In the HKFA Second Division three points separate the top three teams after each gained a victory over the weekend to extend their lead over the rest of the division: HKFC won 3-1 against Tai Chung with 2 goals from Frederick Schipper and one from Paul Foster; Wong Tai Sin defeated Kwun Tong 2-0; Wofoo Tai Po thrashed Wing Yee 5-0; while elsewhere, Lucky Mile were beaten 5-0 by Double Flower.
These results leave HKFC top of the table on 21 points, one point ahead of Woo Foo Tai Po and Wong Tai Sin a further point behind.
In the early game at Sports Road an open and end to end game started on a positive note for Lucky Mile, where a succession of free kicks and corners saw them pressure Double Flower in the early stages using the height of their players to advantage.
A fifth minute free kick from Charlie Hunter was knocked to the far post, where Stuart McInnes saw his goal bound header cleared off the goal line by the Double Flower defender. The resulting near post corner was flicked to the far post by McInnes, where the header missed the target.
Lucky Mile rued those misses as Double Flower got back into the game. In the 24th minute, the centre forward, with back to goal on the six yard box, flicked the ball back over his and the defending centre half’s head, he then swivelled and volleyed the ball into the left hand corner of the net past keeper Paul Ting for a spectacular goal.
The first half ended with Double Flower leading by that goal.
The second half proved to be dominated by Double Flower. A 48th minute drive from 20 yards found the roof of the net. This was followed by a run across the box by Double Flower’s centre forward 5 minutes later that left goalkeeper Ting clutching at air – the run ended with a chip from the goalline at the edge of the 6 yard box to the far post being side foot volleyed into the net.
A Double Flower corner from the right hand side in the 73rd minute to the edge of the box was met by a fierce drive into the top left hand corner of the net.
Double Flower then had a goal disallowed for offside in the 75th minute, but finished their scoring when the centre forward rifled a drive into the bottom left hand corner of the net from 15 yards out from the right hand post.
Lucky Mile continued to look for a reply but saw a 90th minute header by McInnes from a free kick drop into the goalkeeper’s hands on the second bounce after hitting the cross bar.
The Third Division saw Yau Tsim Mong extend their leadership position defeated Tsuen Wan 6-0.They lead the table on 25 points with Metro Gallery Sun Source second on 21 points.
The Fourth Division is now led by GFC Friends by one point after their 2-1 win over Islands, with Sai Kung second on 15 points after their 3-0 defeat of Northern District.
USRC lead Yau Yee League
The Yau Yee League Division One title race remains close after the weekend’s action, though USRC became sole leaders after thrashing French Kiss 9-1.
Meanwhile, the previous week’s joint leaders, HKFC Wanderers, were held to a 1-all draw by The Store House Squadron. The game at Sports Road was very physical and competitive with The Store House Squadron taking the early initiative in the 10th minute when a good break down the left hand side was worked from the left hand corner of the Wanderers box across to in line with the right hand post, where it was driven over goalkeeper James Hopes head into the centre of the net.
Wanderers responded in the 22nd minute when a long throw, from the right hand side into the 6 yard box near the post, ended up in a melee. The Squadron goalkeeper caught the ball above a defenders head, only to drop it to the feet of Phil Dowding three yards out in the centre of the goal where he footed it into an unguarded net to equalise.
In the 34th minute a drive to the near left Wanderers post was parried by Hope and, as he gathered it in, an onrushing Squadron player knocked it from his hands into the net, only to turn and see the referee disallow the goal. When the ball got to the other end from the resulting free kick, another long throw was flicked on by Danny Beattie for Dowding to volley over from three yards out.
The first half ended at 1-all.
Wanderers started the second half with greater urgency and took the play to Squadron for the remainder of the half. Although they applied a lot of pressure and held a lot of possession, they created few clear-cut chances, but gained a lot of free kicks and corners. However, Squadron held out for the draw.
Meanwhile, in other games: Colts drew 2-2 with Baker Tilly Spartans; and KCC Dragons won 2-1 against Interglobo Colloids.
USRC now lead the table on 17 points, one point ahead of KCC Dragons, with Wanderers one point further back on 15.
We are about to get to the stage of the season where the leaders will play each other in consecutive weeks and give a better indication as to which team will be the most likely champions.
In Division Two of the YYL, The Store House Hearts lead the division on 16 points, one point ahead of Mobsters, Boca Seniors and Azzurri – the latter two have both played one game more though. Boca Seniors won 4-1 against Yan Po, while Azzurri drew 0-all with KCC Knights. However, there is a midweek clash between Hearts and Mobsters to catch up their outstanding game.
In Division Three, HKU70’s remained joined in the leadership with WYFC06 after the former’s 5-0 win over Outward Bound and the latter’s 5-0 win over Grasshoppers.
In the Division Four, IES maintained top spot after a 3-1 win over Standard Chartered to reach 19 points, while Power 22 drew 0-all with Skyline to be 3 points behind. Youth Coaches are a further point behind after a 5-0 win over Hung Art.
