Chonburi 2-0 Suphanburi (23/6/18) - Match Report: 2018

 TPL

Chonburi 2-0 Suphanburi

Chonburi Stadium

Attendance: 3,808

Saturday 23rd June, 2018

Match Report

by Peter Reeves

Some familiar names on the visitors team sheet, Dos Santos, Rodrigo, but sadly no Adul, who is out for the rest of the season.

 

As always the crowd looked a little sparse at kick off and they seem to be getting quieter (officially 3,808, but I'd say a thousand less than that -ed).

 

I tried to remember if I've ever seen a match start and the home team not cross the half way line to attack for fully 5 minutes. For that's how long it took for Chonburi to do so, as Suphanburi just knocked it about, using Dos Santos as the base of their inverted triangle. They probed and controlled it, but not much else.

 

They had a couple of forays through the channel on the left, but Rodrigo wasn't up to a decent finish. For most of the first half it was the same pattern, though the Sharks were getting a little more possession as the game wore on.

 

Half time came and whilst Suphanburi had looked better at the basics, neither team looked like they had a goal in them.

 

Heaven only knows what the Suphanburi coach said to his team during the break because they came out and were all over the place. Endless silly challenges in and around the box were putting pressure on the defence and going forward, they offered nothing. The tide had turned in Chonburi's favour, but it still looked like a match that had 0-0 written all over it.

 

The deadlock was finally broken courtesy of another free kick, which Kroekrit - with his first touch, after coming on as substitute - struck through a wall that had gone AWOL. Still, Sinthaweechai really should have saved it.

 

A second came after another almighty scramble in the box and it was game over. Suphanburi never looked capable of pulling one back, let alone two.

 

So another three points to Chonburi and problems for the visitors. Ciro provided the cringe moment, taking a throw in and then collapsing when he realised it was given against him. Get rid of him.

 

We had two new acquisitions to look at - Bajram Nebihi and Matheus Alves. The latter is a big centre forward type, same as his predecessors. One of whom - Rodrigo Vergilio - was in the opposition. I thought Matheus was clumsy, a bit slow and just what you usually get. Nebihi, I didn't notice really until the second goal.

 

Another win and the Sharks are dragging themselves away from the battle below them, but it's hardly convincing.