It was heartbreak for Buriram United when Vegalta Sendai snatched an undeserved point deep into injury time.
The opening 45 minutes was very scrappy with several fouls breaking up any flow to the match. Poor quality was being delivered into the final third as it passed by without much to excite the spectators.
Nonetheless, the best chance of the first half came just shy of the interval when a Hirano cross was met at the near post by Surat, but his header fizzed about half a meter wide of the target.
Eight minutes after the break Buriram got the break they were looking for when Osmar got a faint touch to a whipped in Theerathorn free kick to give the Thunder Castle a 1-0 lead.
The goal was the catalyst to lift the spirits of the Thai side. Just after the hour, a Carmelo Gonzalez shot from the edge of the box scraped the edge of the post as Buriram pressed for another goal.
In the 70th minute, Buriram should really have doubled their advantage when they countered following a Vegalta Sendai corner. Carmelo's pass found Ekkachai with a run in on goal, but the former Thai Port man's shot was scuffed straight into Takuto's grasp.
With eight minutes left on the clock, Theerathorn was denied by the crossbar as his curling free kick from the right flank crashed onto it.
Yet again another counter from the Thunder Castle in the last minute of normal time should have resulted in the decisive goal after Hirano and Carmelo linked up, but Carmelo's effort went agonisingly wide of the post.
With Buriram spurning all of these chances there was always the feeling that it would come back to haunt them. In the 93rd minute, Siwaruk, who'd been a virtual spectator for the whole game, weekly punched away a cross form the right which was then subsequently volleyed home by substitute Nakahara Takayuki for an undeserved equalizer.
At the end of the match, Buriram were gutted that they didn't collect the three points that their second half performance merited. The injury time goal was the first that they've conceded at home in this AFC campaign and you just have the feeling that it could be the goal that ultimately knocks them out of the competition.
Man of the Match: Osmar Ibanez - Buriram's rock at the back
No comments:
Post a Comment