‘Dolphins’ season in danger of unraveling after defeat by Police United

Pressure is beginning to mount on Pattaya United coach Jatuporn Pramolbal and his players following the club’s fourth straight defeat in the Thai Premier League; the latest setback coming in the form of a 1-0 home defeat by Insee Police United in Chonburi last weekend.

United have now gone over four hours since their last Premier League goal, that coming in the 2-1 away defeat at Chiang Rai and it’s the lack of goals that will be most worrying to Jatuporn as he seeks turn United’s league campaign around before the mid-season break.

Pattaya United’s Keisuke Ogawa, right, attacks the Insee Police United defence during the first half of their Thai Premier League fixture in Chonburi, Saturday, May 14. (Photo/Ariyawat Nuamsawat)

The Dolphins profligacy in front of goal was evident once more in the defeat to Insee Police at the Physical Educational Institute Stadium in Chonburi last Saturday.  Both Ludovick and Singmanee had chances early on for the home team but were unable to convert and with what seemed like their first attack of the game, Police opened the scoring in the 20th minute.

The Pattaya defence failed to deal with an attack down their right flank and when the ball came across to the far post, Korean forward Lee Han-Kook was perfectly placed to steer the ball past Narit in the United goal.

The Dolphins came close to an equalizer on the half hour mark when a free kick from Niveat Siriwong struck a Police defender before going agonizingly the wrong side of the goal with the keeper wrong footed.

This was United’s last real opening of the first half and some sections of the crowd began to voice their disenchantment with the team’s performance as the players left the field.

Jatuporn rang the changes at half time and replaced Japanese midfielder Kazuya Myodo with the more attacking option of O.J. Obatola to partner Ludovick up front.

The substitution seemed to galvanize Pattaya as they pressed hard for an equalizer in the second half and visiting goalkeeper Thanganuruck had to be on full alert to deal with a succession of dangerous crosses into the Police United area.  Unfortunately for Pattaya, they were unable to capitalize on their territorial and possession advantage in the second period and the visitors were able to run down the clock as United’s attempts on goal grew more and more desperate.

Things won’t be any easier for United in the coming weeks as they face a series of tough fixtures including home games against Chonburi ‘Sharks’, Army United and Muang Thong United, interspersed by away fixtures at Khon Kaen and Bangkok Glass.  United’s next game is an away trip to Khon Kaen FC on Sunday May 22, kick off at 4 p.m.

While Pattaya United were slipping to another defeat last weekend, neighbouring rivals Chonburi FC were enjoying the best win of the season with a 6-1 thrashing of visiting Khon Kaen FC.  Brazilian forward Nay Fabiano was the star of the show, grabbing a hat trick, while fellow import, Serbian Vladimir Ribic, also bagged a brace and the scoring for the Sharks was completed in the final minute by Sukree Etae.

Chonburi fleetingly went to the top of the league following this result but they were pushed back down to second spot just 24 hours later after Buriram staged a remarkable comeback to beat Navy FC 3-2.

Sri Racha meanwhile made it two wins out of two as they defeated Ostotspa M-150 2-1 in Saraburi thanks to goals from Aron da Silva and Yodrak Namuangrak to lift them off the bottom of the league for the first time this season.