Long Phearath had helped Phnom Penh Crown win their opening AFC Champions League Two match with a stoppage-time assist against Kuching City. Six weeks later, against Kitchee, his evening ended early.
The midfielder needed treatment before leaving the pitch in the 65th minute. Oleg Starynskyi sent Sa Ty on in his place, an injury forcing the Phnom Penh Crown coach to change his team while the score remained 0–0.
Twenty-four minutes later, the replacement scored the goal that finally broke Kitchee’s resistance.
Orn Chanpolin, another second-half substitute, provided the assist. Then Daniel Bareš, who had also started on the bench, added a second in stoppage time.
Phnom Penh Crown had won 2–0 on 29 October, extending their perfect start in Group H to three victories from three matches. Nine points, six goals scored, two conceded and a five-point advantage at the top of the table.
It was a fine position for the Cambodian champions. And after watching three substitutes contribute directly to the two goals, Starynskyi had another reason to be pleased: his team had found a way to win without relying entirely on the players who started.
The story of how they got there says rather more about Crown’s progress than the final score alone.
An injury brought Sa Ty into the game
There was nothing particularly elaborate about the first decisive substitution.
Long Phearath received treatment in the 62nd minute and was replaced three minutes later. Sa Ty came on because a teammate could no longer continue.
Starynskyi then made further changes as the match remained level. Chanpolin replaced Koeut Pich in the 73rd minute, with Bareš taking over from Guytho Mijland a minute later.
Crown had already been finding opportunities. Rick Ketting’s header had drawn a save from Kitchee goalkeeper Pong Cheuk Hei in the 70th minute. After Chanpolin arrived, he tested Pong from distance, while Moses Dyer also had a header saved.
These were encouraging attacking moments, but Kitchee were far from finished.
Jordan Lam Lok Kan fired over in the 82nd minute. Juninho followed with a header that missed the target, and Ruslan Mingazov forced Um Vichet into another save. In the 88th minute, Yumemi Kanda threatened from inside the box, only for the Crown goalkeeper to intervene again.
The match was still waiting for someone to finish an opportunity.
Sa Ty did exactly that.
In the 89th minute, Chanpolin supplied the pass and Sa Ty struck a right-footed shot from outside the penalty area into the top corner. Crown had finally found a breakthrough.
Bareš then finished from inside the box during stoppage time, turning a narrow lead into a 2–0 victory.
Three players who had begun the evening on the bench had produced the decisive attacking contributions.
Starynskyi deserves credit for having options capable of influencing a difficult match. Sa Ty’s introduction was forced by injury, while the complete attacking effects of the later changes require closer examination. What cannot be disputed is that the replacements delivered when their opportunities came.
And this was not the first time Crown had found a late answer in the competition.
Crown have already won three different battles
Their campaign began against Kuching City on 17 September.
Dyer put Crown ahead in the 55th minute, but the Malaysian visitors refused to disappear. Ajdin Mujagić equalised in the 73rd, leaving Crown chasing another goal.
The answer arrived in stoppage time.
Long Phearath, the player who would later leave the Kitchee match injured, helped create the opportunity for Dyer to head home the winner.
Crown had recovered from losing their lead and taken all three points.
Almost a month later, they travelled to South Korea to face Gangwon FC.
This time, Mijland gave them the advantage shortly before half-time. Gangwon equalised through an Abdallah Khalaihal penalty in the 61st minute, and Crown again needed a response.
Dyer converted a penalty in the 78th minute to secure another 2–1 victory.
Winning away to Korean opposition was an important achievement. Crown had again been pegged back, yet found the goal that settled the match.
Then came Kitchee.
Dyer and Mijland both started, but neither scored. Mijland made way for Bareš, while Sa Ty and Chanpolin combined for the opening goal.
For the third consecutive game, Crown found the response they needed. This time, the decisive contributions came from players who had not been selected to start.
That variety is becoming one of the most encouraging features of their campaign. Dyer has delivered important goals, Mijland has contributed, and now the substitutes have shown they can take responsibility for the result.
Starynskyi is getting contributions from different parts of his squad rather than depending on one player to solve every problem.
There is, however, another side to the Kitchee victory that deserves attention.
Kitchee made Crown work for those points
A 2–0 win can make a match look more comfortable than it was.
Crown finished with 19 shots, seven on target. Kitchee managed 15 attempts, four on target, and held 54 per cent of possession.
The visitors also recorded ten shots from inside the penalty area, one more than Crown.
FlashSport’s expected-goals model placed Kitchee ahead, with 1.52 xG compared with Crown’s 0.87. Those figures are estimates of chance quality rather than a verdict on which team deserved to win, but they fit a match in which Um Vichet had important work to do.
Kitchee were still creating dangerous opportunities immediately before Sa Ty’s winner.
Had one of those efforts gone in, Crown would have faced a very different final few minutes. Instead, their goalkeeper kept the game level and their substitutes settled it at the other end.
That combination of defensive interventions and decisive finishing helped Crown preserve their perfect record.
It also gives Starynskyi something to consider. His team have been excellent at finding goals when matches become difficult, but an ability to finish strongly is not quite the same as preventing opponents from creating chances.
The 2–0 result should strengthen confidence in Crown’s attacking options without disguising the work still required to make their performances more secure.
What happens to the substitutes now?
Crown travel to face Kitchee again on 5 November.
For Starynskyi, one of the most interesting decisions concerns the players who changed the first meeting.
Sa Ty scored after replacing an injured teammate. Chanpolin assisted the winner. Bareš added the second goal after coming on for a player who had already contributed during the group campaign.
Have those performances earned any of them greater responsibility?
That decision will tell us more about how Starynskyi values his squad than simply counting their appearances.
Three consecutive victories against Malaysian, Korean and Hong Kong opposition represent genuine progress for Phnom Penh Crown. Their results have come through different goalscorers, different match situations and, against Kitchee, a bench that made the difference.
Crown already know those substitutes can rescue an evening.
The more interesting opportunity now is to discover whether they can help shape a match long before the 89th minute.
Sources
AFC — Phnom Penh Crown 2–0 Kitchee
AFC — Phnom Penh Crown 2–1 Kuching City
AFC — Gangwon FC 1–2 Phnom Penh Crown
FotMob — Phnom Penh Crown vs Kitchee