Underdogs Valley Show Their Class in Holland Cup Showdown

Heading down to King’s Park on a gloomy wet Sunday was not my idea of a fun weekend as I dragged my camera equipment, lugging it on one shoulder while holding an umbrella as I battled the elements in windy and blustery conditions.
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Underdogs Valley Show Their Class in Holland Cup Showdown
Slip sliding away: A KNS-A player shows his balancing skills as he tries to avoid getting hit on the wet and slippery surface at King's Park in the Holland Cup quarter finals on Sunday April 24, 2016. (Eddie So)
4/27/2016
Updated:
4/27/2016

HONG KONG—Heading down to King’s Park on a gloomy wet Sunday was not my idea of a fun weekend as I dragged my camera equipment, lugging it on one shoulder while holding an umbrella as I battled the elements in windy and blustery conditions.

While the day started on-script with many of the teams holding true to form, as Kowloon Cricket Club-A tumbled to Pakistan-A team 2-5, a youthful Shaheen-A side crashed to newly crowned Premier champions Khalsa-A 3-1.

But it was the third game of the Holland quarterfinals which pitted Valley-A against their derby rivals Hong Kong Football Club-A that was the star game. True to form, HKFC-A did well to impress as the game, similar to the previous two encounters earlier in the day, was stopped intermittently by the torrential downpours.

To my surprise, Valley was a somewhat transformed team as they battered HKFC in their search for chances with speedy runs deep into HKFC-A territory, time and again and were rewarded with some splendid forays that earned the applause of the meager fans brave enough to stay to watch proceedings.

As expected, HKFC eventually prevailed as the better team by biding their time and slowly but surely braking down the Valley defence.  Valley goalkeeper Daniel Pickering, did an excellent job between the post denying the attackers but in the end HKFC-A were unstoppable with goals by Thomas Moore, William Glover, Owen Hughes, Nick Lee and Yan Lee Adams, to take a 5-2 victory with Valley’s Mark Panter getting a consolation goal.

Singh Sabha Sports Club (SSSC-A) completed the day with a win over Khalsa Naujawan Sabha (KNS-A) albeit by default as KNS trailed 4-0 going into the start of the second half before umpires abandoned the game due to torrential rain.

The Semi-finals will see Khalsa-A face Pakistan-A and Hong Kong Football Club-A take on SSSC-A on May 8, while the finals are set for May 15.

Eddie So is a seasoned sports journalist and photographer and has worked for a number of media companies in Hong Kong over a period of more than 20 years.