Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Hong Kong: Rufino Segovia’s second-half spot-kick was enough to see Hong Kong champions Kitchee edge a 1-0 win over AFC Cup debutants Kaya FC of the Philippines in Group F on Tuesday.
Kitchee’s Spanish coach Abraham Garcia had signed Seogovia last month from Romanian club Poli Timisoara and his countryman repaid that faith with his fourth goal in four matches at Mongkok Stadium.
UFL Cup winners Kaya had shown good resilience in keeping out a Kitchee side that reached the AFC Cup quarter-finals last year, but they could not offer a response to going behind once Segovia tucked away his penalty on 69 minutes.
“Always the first match is not easy but in the second half I think we controlled the match 100%,” said Garcia, whose side’s next Group F fixture will see them travel to Singapore on March 8 to play Balestier Khalsa.
“This is one of the reasons we scored one goal and I think we could have scored more.”
The home side dominated the first half but were unable to capitalise on several opportunities to score.
Forward pair Christian Annan and Segovia were involved in an early chance in the 11th minute, with Annan’s probing pass finding Segovia inside the box, but the 30-year-old attacker flashed his shot across the Kaya goal.
Annan then had arguably the best chance of the half in the 32nd minute, after finding the ball at his feet inside the box following a slip-up by Kaya goalkeeper Matthew Acton. However, the Ghana-born Hong Kong striker saw his shot cleared off the goal line by midfielder Masanari Omura.
And the visitors nearly went ahead against the run of play a few minutes later, when midfielder Jovin Bedic beat the offside trap to latch on to an aerial ball from teammate Antonio Ugarte only to miscue his shot over the crossbar.
But after the restart, and urged on by a 2000-strong home crowd, Kitchee finally broke the deadlock as Lam Ka Wei was brought down inside the box by Jim Munoz as he leapt for Annan’s lofted cross into the box, and Segovia stepped up to convert into the bottom left corner.
“Both teams played well, but Kitchee got the penalty which made the difference,” said Kaya coach Joel Villarino, whose team will face off at home against Maldives side New Radiant SC in their next AFC Cup outing.
“We have to do something about our game ahead of the next match but we have learned from tonight and we can adjust things in the time before then.”
Photo: Lagardere Sports