Hong Kong giants Kitchee christen new home in style, leaving champions Tai Po in muddle
Inigo Calderon’s team sprint into 4-0 half-time lead but are given scare as visitors belatedly come to life to score twice
Kitchee christened their new Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground home with a 4-2 victory over listless defending champions Tai Po on Sunday, underlining their resurgence under Inigo Calderon and opening up a nine-point gap at the local league summit.
Not that Calderon, the head coach, was entirely happy after his side lost control of a game they led 4-0 at half-time.
“We’re feeling bad after we beat the champions, which is good because that’s the level we want to reach, but we relaxed in the second half and we can’t do that,” Calderon said.
The chain of events generated an element of deja vu for Tai Po, which had also fallen 4-0 behind in their 5-3 defeat by Lee Man last week. Lee Chi-kin, the head coach, pointed to a heavy schedule that has demanded Tai Po play nine matches more than Kitchee this season, but accepted that “this is professional football and we need to handle it”.
Kitchee were rampant in the opening 45 minutes, moving the ball quickly, creating angles and leaving their bedraggled opponents chasing shadows.
Jay Haddow had already crossed for Leandro Martinez to head against the bar when the right-back served up an 11th-minute delivery that Juninho cushioned at the back post. He fed Yumemi Kanda to plant a finish into the top-right corner.