AFC Cup Chonburi 2-0 Citizen - Match Report: 2012

AFC Cup

Group G

Chonburi 2-0 Citizen

Chonburi Stadium

Attendance: 4,364

Tuesday 3rd April, 2012

Match Report

by www.the-afc.com

Chonburi opened up a three-point lead at the top of Group G in the AFC Cup after second-half goals by Therdsak Chaiman and Fode Diakite gave the Thai Premier League side a 2-0 victory over Hong Kong side Citizen on Tuesday.

Therdsak, who came on as a half-time substitute, converted a penalty three minutes into the second half and Diakite headed home on the hour mark to give the Thai club a fully deserved victory at the Chonburi Stadium.

The hosts dominated the contest, which was played on a slick pitch which had been saturated by an earlier rain storm, and they were unlucky not to go into the half-time break with the lead after squandering a number of opportunities in the first half including one effort that came back off the woodwork.

Therdsak came on at the interval to replace Ludovick Kengne and the change paid almost immediate dividends when Chonburi were awarded a penalty shortly after the restart for a handball by a Citizen defender. The former Thailand international playmaker, who was MVP in the inaugural AFC Champions League, stepped up and fired the ball home to put the Thai club a goal up.

Diakite then sealed the win in the 60th minute when Natthapong Samana floated in a delightful cross that the Ivorian defender met with a thumping header into the back of the net.

Despite the win, Chonburi coach Withaya Laohakul was critical of what he felt was a lacklustre performance by his side.

"I actually thought it was just a fair performance by our team and our goals felt like a bonus tonight," he said.

"We scored from a penalty and a set piece but it was still not a good performance for us. We will look for our players to improve and I hope that we can play with a better style when we take on Citizen again next week."

Citizen coach Chu Kwok Kuen felt that the wet conditions hampered his side's performance.

"We did well in the first half because we can play well with a defensive style, but because of the rain and the wet pitch, we misplaced several of our passes," said Chu.

"After we conceded the penalty, our performance went down and we finally lost the game. Hopefully, we will do better when we play against them at home next week."