AFC Champions League: BC Rangers captain hopes young players learn lesson from their dramatic loss
- Rangers were 1-0 up against Haiphong of Vietnam until late penalty led to an equaliser – with visitors scoring three more goals in extra time
- Head coach Henry Vom ‘proud we kept fighting until the end’ but skipper Lam Ka-wai says inexperience – and a lack of fitness – cost them
BC Rangers captain Lam Ka-wai hopes his fellow young teammates take the positives from their Asian Champions League debut despite a dramatic 4-1 loss to Haiphong of Vietnam in the preliminary round on Tuesday.
The home side were 1-0 up with less than five minutes to go, but a late penalty led to an equaliser from the visitors, who scored three more goals in extra-time to move into the next qualifying round against Incheon United of South Korea.
“The result says a football match is not 45 minutes, not 60 minutes, as it only counts after 90 minutes,” Lam, one of the team’s three former Kitchee stars that have played in the regional top-tier cup competition, said.
“We were almost there, leading the match until the final stages and then unfortunately we conceded a late penalty. But that’s football, as you need a 90-minute result. It was a bit of a pity the match then went into extra time and we lost.
“But if you closely examine the form between the two teams, their players were much fitter than us. When we were still full of stamina in the first half, we were able to deal with them and created chances.
