On December 22nd, the final battle of the Central League A was not only a key elevation match, but also regarded as the summit showdown between Meizhou Hakka and Zhejiang. Wuhan Three Town topped the end-of-season standings, while Meizhou Hakka and Zhejiang followed in second and third place. In these two crucial battles, a quasi shutout and a draw took turns in the drama.
In the match between Zhejiang and Wuhan Sanzhen, the two sides fought hard. Before the match, Wuhan Sanzhen had already locked up the Super League spot in advance, while Zhejiang team was expecting a result from Meizhou Hakka. Even if the Zhejiang team beat Wuhan Sanzhen, if Meizhou Hakka can draw or win, Zhejiang team will be directly promoted. In the first half, Wuhan Sanzhen was the first to break through the goal, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the Zhejiang team. In the second half of the game, Zhejiang team launched an all-out counterattack. In the 61st minute, Frank's header helped the team equalize the score. As the clock ticked down to the 80th minute, Zhejiang would lose their chance to overtake the competition if they failed to make a comeback. In the 88th minute, Zhejiang was awarded a penalty kick, Matthews scored it firmly, and the team was back in the lead, the players cheered.
Meanwhile, the situation of Meizhou Hakka was also tense to the extreme. In the first half, Meizhou Hakka was scored a goal by their opponents, but despite this, they still trailed 0-1 until the 90th minute of the game. If the game stays at this score, Zhejiang will undoubtedly be promoted directly to the Chinese Super League. In the final stages of the game, Gong Chunjie stepped up and equalized the score with a shot in the 95th minute, and Meizhou Hakka was promoted to the Chinese Super League. Zhejiang, on the other hand, will unfortunately be playing in the Super League's elevation playoffs, which will be a huge blow to them.
In the past five years, Zhejiang team has repeatedly missed the opportunity to be promoted to the Super League, always stabilized in the middle and upper reaches of the Central League, and both times the Super League was lost. Now, the Zhejiang team, which is about to participate in the play-offs, is still uncertain whether it can be promoted to the Chinese Super League again.
