The league is now getting right down to the wire and it is hard to see Khalsa faltering in the title race.
With only two matches left to play in the Hong Kong Hockey Association’s Premier League, Khalsa-A are still four points clear and just need to win one of their last two games to win the Championship.
Also, it should be noted that Khalsa has an insurmountable 28-goal-difference advantage over their nearest rival, HKFC-A (Hong Kong Football Club).
This coming weekend they play Pak-A, which will be no pushover, and then they face HKFC-A in the last game of the season. Khalsa faltered in their post-break match against HKFC-A last year, but based on current form it is unlikely that they will lose both of these matches, particularly at their home ground King’s Park.
On one hand, HKFC-A are currently equal second with Punjab – both are on 38-points, with HKFC leading with a 14-goal-difference advantage over Punjab. However, Club still have two difficult matches to play—Valley-A and that Khalsa-A clash.
Punjab-A, on the other hand, have a hard match against SSSC-A (Singh Sabha Sports Club) to play this coming weekend, but their final game against Club-B should not be so demanding. If Punjab-A win their match against SSSC-A they could well push Club-A into third place.
In the unlikely scenario that all three lose this weekend, Khalsa will all-but claim the title with one match still to go considering their goal-difference advantage.
HKFC-A vs SSSC-A
The match between HKFC-A and SSSC-A last Sunday (March 3) was hard-fought and a quite brutal contest at times, with fierce hitting and some intimidating behaviour, particularly from some of the SSSC players. However, green and yellow cards were issued to players of both sides.
Club-A moved the ball around well with good controlled penetrating play, but strong resistance was met on frequent occasions.
SSSC-A created several good chances throughout the match and put the ball in the goal twice in the first half, but both were disallowed.
Will Glover had a good chance in front of goal to open the scoring for Club-A, but just pushed the ball the wrong side of the post. HKFC-A opened their account through a well taken back stick shot by Tom Moore, eight minutes from half-time.
Jo Jo Wolff then added to Club’s total 18 minutes into the second period.
But SSC-A got a goal back through Navdeep Sharma with eight minutes of the match remaining and it was still anybody’s game. However, Yan Adams sealed the 3-1 win by deflecting a ball into the SSSC-A goal with four minutes left on the clock.
Other matches
Khalsa-A easily brushed aside KCC-A winning 7-2; Punjab-A beat Elite-A by the same 7-2 margin; and Pak-A won their match against Shaheen-A 5-2. The Valley-A vs HKFC-B match was rescheduled for Friday March 15.
Women
Simon Chapman, HKFC-A’s coach, was heard to say to one of his players as the clock was winding down in their match on Thursday Feb 28 against Valley-A: “Keep pushing, but we will be happy with a draw.”
The score at the time was 1-1. Club-A only had 10 players on the field as one was yellow carded and played no further part in the game.
Club were under considerable pressure from Valley at the time. They did hold-out for the draw, but only because Club-A’s goalie, Claire Archer, made some important saves and blocks.
With only two points separating the teams in the league standings (33-31), this draw keeps Club in top spot with two more games to play. KCC are third and in reach at just two points further back on 29, also with two matches remaining.
Club are not home and dry yet though. They have to face KCC tonight and Valley again in the last match of the season on March 16. Valley also have to play KCC again before the end of the season. These look like being the League Championship deciders.
Following what was arguably the best match of the season so far in the Women’s Premier League, Chapman commented to The Epoch Times after the match: “That is the best I have seen Valley-A play in the seven years I have been here.”
Other results
I
n the other women’s matches on Saturday March 2, Shaheen-A could only manage a draw with HKFC-B; while KCC-A defeated Recreio-A.
In the Shaheen-A vs HKFC-B match, Shaheen-A scored towards the end of the first half to go into the break 1-0, but HKFC-B countered three minutes after the break to level the score at 1-1. Two further goals, one by either side pushed the score to 2-2, which was the final result.
In the KCC-A vs Recreio-A match, Recreio held the score to 0-0 until 10 minutes into the second half when KCC-A scored twice within a five minute period and added a further goal with three minutes of the match remaining to make the final score 3-0.
Next Week
Three good men’s matches are on offer next Sunday March 10. HKFC-A play Valley-A at HKFC; meanwhile, at King’s Park, Punjab-A meet SSSC-A and Pak-A play Khalsa-A. All three of these have some close rivalries and should be hard fought and entertaining to watch.
The two women’s matches—HKFC-B hosting Valley-A and HKFC-A hosting Shaheen-A—are not top of the table clashes, however.
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