Bangkok Casuals League Divisions 1 & 2
Pattaya City were hosts to the German All Stars last weekend and the home team had the better of the opening exchanges before Oleg Vorontsov latched into a pass from Tshuma to brush off three defenders and shoot pass the German keeper to make it 1-0 to City.
As the visitors searched for an equalizer the game opened up more and City spurned several good opportunities to double their lead before getting a let-off on the stroke of halftime as they saw the German winger strike the inside of their own woodwork.
The second half saw the German side come into the game more and City had to thank their goalkeeper Yongui for pulling off a series of important saves to keep his side ahead.
At the other end of the field Vorontsov almost doubled both his and his teams tally but his shot in the final minutes was well saved by the German goalkeeper.
City had 70% of the possession in this match but ultimately they were forced to accept the 1-0 win thanks to some resolute defending by their opponents and some over elaboration in their own play.
Reserves come unstuck in capital
The Pattaya City Reserves meanwhile travelled to Bangkok to play BSL Youth and were put under early pressure with the home team shooting just over the bar and then seeing Pattaya’s David Brown clear the ball off his own goal-line.
After withstanding the early onslaught, City settled down and began to exert some authority on the game and it was no surprise when Glen Wilkins prodded the ball home after hitting the post to give Pattaya the lead.
The goal seemed to galvanize City even further and soon after, a move involving Phansaloud and Thongpla saw the ball passed on quickly to O’Callaghan who made no mistake to give Pattaya a two goal cushion.
BSL had been restricted by the well organized City defense to taking long shots in the first half but soon after the break, a lapse in concentration from a throw in allowed the home team to break down the right wing and float a ball over for their center forward to make the score 2-1.
Pattaya were guilty of similar slack marking soon after that allowed BSL to equalize with an almost identical goal to their first.
BSL were now getting on top and the City players were getting tired and it was no surprise when a 35 yard shot flew into the City goal leaving the keeper stranded and making the score 3-2 to the hosts.
City fought back but just could not make the final ball count and with a slight hint of offside BSL scored again to make it 4-2.
City came back with tired legs but again the final ball was missing and BSL scored their fifth goal as the City players were pushing forward and the final score was 5-2 to BSL. This was a game of two halves – the first half belong to City and the second half belong to BSL who showed their superior fitness at the end.
