Buriram United 2-1 Bunyodkor

A 76th minute header from substitute Ekkachai Sumrei ensured Buriram pulled of an impressive 2-1 home win over Uzbek powerhouse Bunyodkor.

Bunyodkor's second choice stopper, Murod Zukharov, was the busier keeper early doors. First, he scooped away Theerathon's free kick with his feet after it had came through a cluster of players, and soon afterwards he had to parry away an Adisak shot.

Buriram's early pressure paid off when they took the lead in the 17th minute. A delightful ball from Jirawat skiffed off the back of Anawin past Zukharov after the Buriram winger had snuck in behind the Bunyodkor defence.

Six minutes later, Buriram should have doubled their advantage, but Kai Hirano blazed a rebound over the bar after the Uzbek keeper had been forced into a save.

Bunyodkor had done virtually nothing in the opening 30 minutes, but they gradually improved as the half neared the 45 minutes mark. The Buriram defence were living dangerously as the Uzbek side delivered some testing balls from set pieces.

The persistence of the the Swallows finally paid off as they levelled in first half injury time. It was no surprise that their goal came following a set piece. Sivakorn blocked a delivery from the right with his legs, but it was then chipped across the goal for substitute Igor Taran to volley home.

That goal seemed to take the wind out of Buriram's sails as they found it difficult to keep the same attacking tempo in the early stages of the second half.

On the hour, Bunyodkor almost made it 2-1 when Murzoev's shot on the turn rattled the top of the goal stanchion.

However, on 76 minutes Buriram retook the lead when Ekkachai looped a header inside the far post following a free kick from his former Thai Port colleague Jirawat.

The expected fightback from Bunyodkor never really materialized although they should have had a penalty in the 92nd minute when Anawin bundled over Taran as he was about to pull the trigger. The Aussie whistler, who'd otherwise had a good game, failed to award the spot kick and some would say it was a bit of pay back after the number 9 had tumbled rather easily on a couple of occasions prior to this.

Nonetheless, Buriram claimed a deserved 2-1 victory, but Bunyodkor will still be favorites to progress when the second leg is played next Tuesday at the recently built Bunyodkor Stadium.

Man of the Match: Theerathon - Great attacking play and delivery from set pieces mixed in with some petulance

Jiangsu Sainty 2-0 Buriram United

Two goals in the space of 60 seconds shortly before half time were Buriram United's undoing as they lost 2-0 to Jiangsu Sainty at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center.

There was an upbeat tempo to the start of the game with both sides content to pass the ball on the deck.

Theerathorn whipped in a couple of early free kicks from the right which Deng Xiofei in the Jiangsu goal had to be alert to grab.

Suree had to be vigilant on 13 minutes to make a last ditch block following a neat series of passes from the home side.

Zhou Yun was lucky not to be red carded five minutes later when he made an ugly sliding lunge at Kai Hirano. The referee leniently let him off with a yellow card in my opinion.

Siwarak's first save came in the 24th minute after Sun Ke had neatly turned Theeratorn on the edge of the box, but his shot was saved by the Buriram keeper.

In the 33rd minute Bustos spurned a great opportunity to open the scoring when Jiangsu had pushed their defenders up for a free kick. Buriram broke quickly from the free kick and Hirano released Bustos clear through on goal, but the Chilean's effort was weakly struck straight at the keeper.

As the game looked to be heading into the break even, Buriram were hit with a double sucker punch in the 42nd and 43rd minute.

First up, Lu Bofei found the bottom corner of the net after Siwarak had parried away a Ren Hang shot, and 60 seconds later with Buriram still reeling from conceding the opening goal, Sun Ke headed home Ji Xiang's cross to make it 2-0.

Buriram kept plugging away, but it was rather scrappy after the interval.

Carmelo Gonzalez pulled a shot wide for the Thai side while Sun Ke had a goal ruled out for offside as Jiangsu happily watched the clock tick down.

Haimdi Salindi thought he'd added a third for the Nanjing team in the 84th minute, but his header was blocked on the line by Anawin.

However, five minutes later Anawin was heading to the locker room after collecting two yellow cards. There were no arguments as the substitute slowly trudged off the field.

It was a deserved win for Jiangsu Sainty on the night, yet it all could have been so different had Bustos scored in the first half when the score was 0-0.

Next up for Buriram United in the AFC Champions League are back-to-back home matches against Jiangsu Sainty and Vegalta Sendai. Two wins would have the Thunder Castle right back on track.

Man of the Match: Sun Ke

Bangkok Glass 4-0 Thai Port

View from up top

Bangkok Glass blitzed Thai Port with four goals in the second half to maintain their place in TPL championship race.

The Glass Rabbits came out the traps fairly swiftly with Flavian Michelini forcing Wanlop into an early save and good link-up play between Ajayi and Chatree made the same keeper produce an excellent save with his left foot.

Wanlop saves

Thai Port improved as the half went on and had a couple of chances but their final ball from breakaways into the box lacked that bit of quality.

As the second half progressed, it appeared that Thai Port had set their stall out to to defend their 0-0 and nick a point. Their plan seemed to be going well but as soon as BG introduced Saruta and Anawin the home side's attacking game moved up a level.

Pinball

On 65 minutes a corner from the left pinballed around the Thai Port 6 yard box before Samual Ajayi eventually knocked it in for the opener.

Within two minutes, the Klong Toei side were reduced to 10 men when Termchai was ordered off after he needlessly kicked a BG player on the back of the legs.

With 15 minutes left on the clock, it was game over as second half substitute, Anawin, was allowed VIP access to stroll through the Thai Port defence to knock the ball into the empty net.

After that, it was just a case of how many Glass would score and Chatree and Peerapong compounded Port's misery in the dying minutes netting tap-ins.

The win moved BG up to second but I'm still not convinced they have enough about them to win the TPL. Thai Port were adequate in the first half but if they are going to sit back like they did in the second half, then they need to learn how to defend. The defending for a couple of the goals was shocking!!