Chonburi 2-1 Bangkok Utd - Match Report: 2010

TPL

Chonburi 2-1 Bangkok Utd

IPE Stadium

Saturday 10th July, 2010

Attendance: 4,577

Match Report
A strange game in many ways. And one that we almost threw away. Things started brightly enough, when Phanuwat was tripped in the box and the returning Therdsak confidently stroked home the resulting penalty. One minute gone, one goal up and those of us in the main stand plumped up our cushions and lit big fat cigars. This was going to be a breeze. We launched another couple of attacks, during which we could, and should, have increased our lead but the white shirted defence held firm. Losing Therdsak after about a quarter of an hour was a blow, as he limped off with a recurrence of the hamstring injury that had kept him out of the last two matches. However, Adul Lahso is a more than capable replacement so there wasn't any great concern amongst the home fans.

For the next twenty minutes or so we huffed and puffed without causing any real threat. But we were making hard work of it, against a side who were playing in a manner that suggested that fourteenth isn't a true reflection of their form. They should be lower!

Finally a neat little move, which ended with a defence splitting pass, a pin point cross and a simple tap in for Baga doubled our lead and calmed a few nerves. Surely we'd forge ahead in the second half? Bangkok United looked like a beaten team and nothing they had done in the first forty five minutes suggested that they had the ability to get back into the game.

To be fair, they did step up the pace after the break and Sinthaweechai was called into action on a few occasions. The rest of the team seemed to be a little anxious and, as news came in that Muang Thong Utd were unexpectedly behind against Police United, a sort of panic set in. The visitors sensed that they just might be able to snatch something after all and continued to put pressure on the Chonburi back line. The home side were now relying on breakaway attacks and really sould have put the result beyond doubt when three forwards broke to find only a solitary defender and a goalkeeper between them and a third goal. However, none of them wanted to take the initiative and the chance was wasted. It was to get worse as Bangkok United went straight up the other end and scored.

A nail biting last ten minutes was made even more unbearable with constant updates from Thammasat, where the Police were still clinging on to their slender advantage. At the final whistle, the disappointingly, and curiously, low crowd let out a collective sigh of relief. The cheers were reserved for two minutes later, when the result from Rangsit was announced over the pa. It's back in our hands now. A win against BEC Tero on Wednesday will see us go level on points with the leaders (a 9-0 win will see us go top!) but we'll have to play much better than this if we want to be considered as serious title challengers.