Bangkok Casuals Amateur Football League Div. 1
Pattaya City entertained third placed Anatolia last weekend, with the home team missing three of their key players.
The Turkish visitors showed they were in good form as they took the game to City in the early stages of the match and created a number of half chances that they were unable to convert. City, for their part, were struggling to break down the disciplined Anatolia defence and were restricted to shooting from long range, but without success.
It was somewhat against the run of play then that City made the breakthrough. City’s keeper collected the ball from an Anatolia corner kick and immediately threw it out to Vorontsov on the half way line. City’s leading scorer left his two markers in his wake as he bore down on the Anatolia goal and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 1-0 to the home team.
Anatolia were given a lifeline back into the match when they were awarded a controversial penalty kick after one of their forwards appeared to be tripped by one of his own teammates in the Pattaya penalty area. City’s protests to the referee were waived away and the Turks converted the spot kick to make the score 1-1.
City almost restored their lead when Rod Torrie’s rasping shot skimmed the Anatolia crossbar but the visitors went straight down the other end of the field and opened up the Pattaya defence to score and take a 2-1 advantage into the half-time break.
Pattaya came out strongly in the second half and Vorontsov was unfortunate to see his shot from an acute angle just shave the outside of the post with the keeper well beaten. Soon after, a neat passing move involving Rakotonirina, Vorontsov and Hannigan saw the latter blast the ball over the bar from eight yards out with the goal at his mercy.
It would prove to be a key moment in the match as Anatolia held out until the final whistle to secure a hard-fought 2-1 victory. City’s captain Philipp Walter was disappointed with the result but said he was pleased that the team’s performances seem to be improving week by week and expects that to bear fruit in the upcoming matches.
