Kitchee FC defeated arch rivals South China in a hotly contested match to reach the semi-finals of the Hong Kong FA Cup. The two sides were deadlocked for 120 minutes so penalties were the only method to separate the two. Christian Annan, Jorge Tarres and Diego Cascon all slotted in for Kitchee to ease them through to the last four. The win allows Kitchee to remain on course for the league and cup double and the chance to win the FA Cup for the third time in a row.
HONG KONG FA CUP QUARTER-FINAL
Kitchee win 3-1 on Penalties
Kitchee 0
South China 0
Attendance 3,100
In-front of 3,100 passionate fans, Kitchee dominated the majority of the match with South China’s Yapp Hung-Fai being the much busier of the two keepers. Yapp made superb saves from Xu Deshaui (Free-kick) and Jorge Tarres (deflected shot) in the second half. South China also had their chances with Sean Tse going close with a header in the 40th minute and Jang Kyungjin of Kithcee nearly scored a spectacular own goal in the 38th minute when he crashed a ball off his own crossbar. Both sides continued to press deep into extra time but neither had the killer touch to kill off the game. It came down to the lottery of penalty kicks and Kitchee held their nerve. Kitchee will now play BC Rangers who themselves defeated I-Sky Yuen Long 5-4 on penalties in the day’s earlier game.
All pictures courtesy of Chris KL Lau.
Christopher KL Lau is a freelance writer who was born in England and now works in Hong Kong. He has figured out twitter and can be found here: https://twitter.com/Chris_KL_Lau
