Last Saturday, Feb. 25, Pattaya United visited Buriram United’s Thunder Castle Stadium for game 3 in the Thai Premiership.
After the previous week’s heroic victory against Chonburi, Pattaya flew into Buriram in great spirits and although playing the side who finished 4th in the 2016 league campaign, Pattaya appeared confident that they could come away with a result from this footballing fortress.
The first half produced very few chances with the score remaining goalless. Pattaya were once again well organized with centre backs Lee Wong Young and partner Kim Tae Yeon imperious throughout the 90 minutes.
It was also good to see debutant Surachet Ngamtip making an impressive start to his Pattaya career on the left hand side of defence. In centre midfield, Chayawat Srinawong had most probably the best chance in the first half with a header that flew over the bar.
Although Pattaya were solid at the back they offered very little threat going forward and as the game wore on Buriram started to gain greater control. In the 66th minute a coming together of Buriram’s Brazillian striker Dogo and Pattaya’s Chayawat Buran led the theatrical referee pointing to the spot. Dogo picked himself up to convert the penalty kick and put the home side 1-0 up.
If Chayawat felt hard done by with this decision, he would rightly be incensed when barely minutes later he himself was dragged down in the Buriram area. On this occasion the referee felt it correct to wave play on and suddenly the contest was no longer about two competitive sides. Now a ‘villain’ was partaking in the pantomime.
As Pattaya threw men forward in search of an equalizer they were hit by a last minute “sucker punch” as Supachok Sarichat converted Dogo’s cross from a counter attack which gave Buriram a rather flattering 2-0 victory.
Although Pattaya may feel sorry for themselves they were really the instigators of their own downfall and offered very little in attacking play. The strikers who had played so well in the previous week were in this game disappointing. There seemed to be a lack of urgency and this coupled with several poor touches, meant that Pattaya found it difficult to keep the ball once it had been wrestled away from the home side.
However, no result can take away from the performance of the Pattaya midfield playmaker Peeradon Chamratsamee. In difficult circumstances he never shied away from the task and his touch at times was exquisite. Just like his hair style his performance shone out, and if the rest of the squad can raise their games to the same standard on the big stage then it will no longer be the man in the black shirt making all the headlines.
