Opening Day: 2017

TPL

Buriram Utd 2-2 Chonburi 

I-Mobile Stadium, Buriram

Sunday 12th February, 2017

Attendance 29,891

Gate Receipts B2,117,000

Merchandise B1,989,150

Photos

Match Report

by Peter Reeves

So a return to the football after a very long break.

 

Two things became apparent very early in this match. Firstly, the what seemed like, a sparsely populated stadium at kick off, for a team that’s supposed to be one of the best supported in the land and secondly the Chonburi efforts at damage limitation on the pitch. Both scenarios changed quite quickly. Maybe the fans were late. My neighbour and I had discussed going. A past Buriram Utd fan, he had seen them at Swatcat pre-season and though they won easily, had remarked they don’t look very good. He decided against going, so TV it was.

 

For the first 10 minutes it was a limitation exercise from the Sharks, as they sought to avoid the drubbing most people seemed to think was coming their way, and try and nick something on a breakaway. A reasonable tactic if you haven’t got Stan Laurel as a goalkeeper. And they have.

 

On 16 minutes, controversy. Buriram had seen most of the ball, but in a rare breakaway, Prince goes round the defender and scores. Disallowed. For what I thought? The replays showed his hand did make a slight contact with the Buriram player, but hardly a foul. Poor decision. Glad to see things are still the same. Newin’s pre-match prayers shown on tv, sitting in his seat for all to see of course, were being answered.

After 20 minutes though, Chonburi suddenly woke up and realized Buriram offered little threat. Lots of possession but poor passing, no penetration and going nowhere. The men in white became more adventurous. On 27 minutes, a curling shot from Prince tipped just over.

 

On 37 minutes, a player clean through down the right channel, but a terrible finish. Buriram were a shambles. On 40 minutes, the Sharks take the lead through a good effort by Nurul, and on 45 minutes, a 2-0 lead as the same player placed a rebound off the post in the corner. Buriram were all over the place and the sound of a smashing cup from next door told its own story. Could though have been more. A goal wrongly disallowed. Prince had missed a reasonable chance. The travelling Sharks fans couldn’t believe it. Once Chonburi had got rid of any early fears they had run the game.

 

So to the second. What should Therdsak have told his team as they came out? More of the same please, let’s try and get another, but at 2-0 with 15 minutes to go, shut up shop. Buriram of course came at them with a bit more urgency, but still did not seem particularly threatening. A few half chances came and went and Chonburi themselves had a couple. So we moved to the last 15 minutes. Cue Stanley. He spilled one over the line for 1-2 and then a corner went unchallenged, allowing a simple head in for 2-2. The goals coming 3 minutes apart.

 

Now they were hanging on in a game they should have been comfortable in. Chanin still demonstrating how not to be a goalkeeper, by trying to kick away balls he should be catching. It had all gone wrong. It was a worrying last 10 minutes, but Buriram really had no idea, so a draw. Hardly a fair result, but I suppose Chonburi would have taken that prior to kick off.

 

Buriram? Quite poor, and on this performance, no threat to Muangthong or Bangkok Utd at all. My neighbour came over and said ‘give me a bloody drink…rubbish!’

 

Chonburi? Well they had a basic shape for most of the match, but somehow still look vulnerable. They couldn’t seem to make their mind up if they were playing two banks of four or a four with three covering, but it didn’t matter. Bodies behind the ball helped. Nurul was good and looked a threat, but the rest only ok, apart from Chanin, who was definitely not ok! They had played the counter attack well and then grown into the match. They should be disappointed with only a point. It should have been three.

 

A decent performance over the 90 minutes, and worth at least a draw - probably more - but is this like we saw last season, a false dawn? We’ll know soon enough.

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