Kitchee became the back-to-back Senior Shield champions for the first time when they defeated Eastern 2-1 in overtime in the Senior Shield final at Mong Kok Stadium on Sunday (February 11).
Kitchee resumed their campaign after the Asian Cup with number of players sidelined. Fernando, who replaced the injured Shinichi Chan, was forced off in the early first half during the clash as Paulo produced a few saves to keep Eastern at bay in the first half at Mong Kok Stadium.
Neither team could break the deadlock with plenty of huge chances for both until Roberto was judged to have fouled Tamirlan Kozubayev moments after Helio was sent off in the 76th minute. The game went from bad to worse for Kitchee as Eastern were allowed to retake their penalty to take the lead in the 85th minute.
Kitchee pushed for an equalizer with 10 men and their hard work paid off when they rewarded a penalty for handball by Kozubaev in the stoppage time that the defender was also dismissed for a second yellow. Charlie Scott scored the stoppage time equalizer from the spot, which Kitchee were also allowed to retake the penalty, to force the game into extra time.
The game turned chaotic as Eastern were down to 9 men after Noah Baffoe was being shown a straight red after a nasty challenge on Andy Russell before a late stunning drama strike from Ruslan Mingazov in extra time to turn the stadium erupted as the goal gave Kitchee a 2-1 victory against Eastern to lift the Senior Shield title for the 9th time.