The Premier League returned to Siu Sai Wan after 3 years, where the second round after the restart took place behind closed doors. Lucas Silva’s header gifted Eastern a narrow win over Southern, whilst two superb assists from the corner by Chan Shinichi sunk Lee Man’s hope of the title. A Serge Deble hat-trick against Happy Valley kept R&F 2nd in the table.
Plenty of rotations from Southern as they also had the Sapling Cup final on Sunday in mind with their small squad, whilst Eastern had Joao Emir and Leung Kwun-chung starting. The sole goal of the game came in the 13th minute, when Sandro’s cross deep down the right was headed back to the center by Joao Emir at the far post, for an unmarked Lucas Silva to score at close range. Southern came close towards the end of the first half when Beto saw his powerful header parried by Yapp Hung-fai. Actions continued mostly in Southern’s defensive half, but the Blues saw their further attempts denied by Choy Tsz-to.
To many people’s relief, Huang Yang recovered from his injury to start but it was an eventful game for the Kitchee captain, firstly when Michael N’Dri stamped on his ribs after fouling the French striker. Lee Man almost opened the scoring but Yu Pui-hong’s one-on-one rolled just wide off target. The Bluewaves then took the lead in the 31st, when Komazec ran from behind to head in at the near post from Chan Shinichi’s swinging corner. Michael N’Dri then levelled the game with a penalty from a Huang Yang’s handball after ten minutes. Manu Gavilan made his Kitchee debut from the bench in the second half, after being given green light to play after the restart as former employer Happy Valley proved their contract was terminated due to COVID-19. The game grew increasingly one-sided and the Kitchee found their winner through another Chan Shinichi’s corner. The brilliant teenager’s kick first found Park Jun-hyung at the far post, before Tong Kin-man heading it home at the near post. In the closing minutes, Yuen Ho-chuen made some superb saves on one-on-one situations from Manu Gavilan and Wellingsson de Souza to keep the scoreline low.
Another young line-up from Happy Valley with an average age of only 21.8 from their 18 men squad. It was all R&F right from the start and Serge Deble was already ready to celebrate his early goal before seeing it bounce off the post. At 35’, a defensive error from To Chun-kiu saw him passing straight to Lam Zhi-gin, who set up Serge Deble to score from a tight angle for his first. Seven minutes later, R&F doubled their lead through their right again, when Deble headed home Igor Satori’s cross. Returning from the break, Ng Ka-yeung pulled one back for Happy Valley in the 67th, with a brilliant volley curling in off the post, having been picked by Poon Pui-hin’s cross. R&F restored their 2 goals lead 8 minutes later when Lam Zhi-gin marked his name on the scoresheet with a neat dribble into the box before slotting home at the far post. After just a minute, Lam sent a cut-through ball into the box for Deble to complete his hattrick. Happy Valley’s promising young boys did not give up though, as Henry Moore netted his first professional goal on his debut with a goalmouth poke-in after Jahan Khan’s low ball from the left nutmegged 3 other players to reach him. With 2 minutes left on the clock, Dudu opened his account under his new employer with a powerful header from Matt Lam’s corner to end the goal show at 2:5.
Two wins out of two games since the restart sent Eastern to the top of the table with 15 points from 8 games, a point ahead over R&F from 7 games. Kitchee and Lee Man closely followed with one point short, meaning the title is still up for grabs for them with 3 rounds remaining.
Match results
Southern 0:1 Eastern (Sep 23rd 3pm, Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground, behind closed doors)
Kitchee 2:1 Lee Man (Sep 24th 3pm, Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground, behind closed doors)
Happy Valley 2:5 R&F (Sep 25th 3pm, Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground, behind closed doors)
