Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Male: A first-half double from Rufino Segovia helped Kitchee to a 2-0 victory over New Radiant of the Maldives in Group F of the AFC Cup on Wednesday as the Hong Kong side got their group stage campaign back on track and left their opponents rooted to the foot of the table.
After a bright start at the National Stadium, Kitchee opened the scoring through Segovia’s volley in the 17th minute before the Spaniard's finish on the half-hour mark put his side two up at the interval.
New Radiant goalkeeper Sulemana Abu was then red carded for handling outside the box 20 minutes after the restart as Kitchee comfortably saw out the game to claim their first win in the continental competition since their group opener against Kaya FC of the Philippines.
“Our team played very well and the performance was very good. I am happy with the way we played in the second half as well.” said Kitchee coach Alex Chu.
“It was a very important win for us and we still have a chance to move to first place in the group. We will work hard in our next home game to make it possible.”
Kitchee took control of the game from the off and went in front on 17 minutes when Segovia neatly volleyed home his second of the campaign from 12 yards after getting on the end of Lam Ka Wei’s cross from just inside the New Radiant half.
And after scoring what was also only Kitchee’s second of the group campaign, Segovia then notched his brace on 30 minutes when his bouncing volley from captain Lo Kwan Yee’s centre from the right looped over goalkeeper Abu and into the back of the net.
The Hong Kong side continued in the ascendency after the interval and defender Law Tsz Chun broke into the New Radiant box on 48 minutes before directing his effort from 15 yards directly at Abu.
New Radiant’s task became even harder on 65 minutes when Segovia raced through on goal before attempting to dink the ball over the outrushing Abu, only for the custodian to block with his hands from just outside his penalty area and receive an inevitable red card.
And the in-form Spaniard then should have scored his hat-trick in the final 10 minutes when, after being slipped through by Lam, he was denied by substitute goalkeeper Fairooz Ahmed from point-blank range.
“Kitchee played very well and won the game; we suffered with their speed and it was very difficult for us,” said New Radiant coach Iordan Stoykov.
“We made some defensive errors and after the second goal it was very difficult to change the game. From every game we can take something positive, but we can see the difference between local and international football.”
Photo: Lagardère Sports