Bangkok United 2-3 BEC Tero

First half action

BEC Tero edged out Bangkok United 3-2 in an entertaining game at the Thai Japanese Stadium.

The home side cheered on by their orange clad supporters, started brightly with Ronnachai and Gasmi having half chances in the opening minutes.

Meanwhile, Tero were knocking the ball around nicely without really testing Jakkaphan in the United goal.

The breakthrough for the away side came in the 27th minute when Cleiton Silva shrugged off Mario da Silva too easily before running 35 yards to score the opener.

Sho Shimoji's shot skimmed off the face of the home side's bar while Mario da Silva headed a free kick from 12 yards narrowly over as the Fire Dragons held a 1-0 advantage at the break

The opening period had been been ticking over nicely, yet it moved up a notch shortly after halftime when BU made a positive substitution bringing on attacker Paul Ekollo for midfielder Tony Costa.

On 62 minutes, the positive change brought a goal when Ronnachai crossed to Sompong in the box who controlled, turned and fired home into the bottom corner.

That lead only lasted three minutes though. Cleiton flicked on to Wichaya who ran down the flank and squared for sub Rangsan to net.

A couple of minutes later, United thought they'd levelled again but the linesman's flag ruled out Chatchai's slide in.

However in their next attack, Bangkok United where awarded a penalty when Apiwat left out a leg that Sompong gladly tripped over.

Romain Gasmi was the man on spot kick duty and he hit the penalty to the right to make it 2-2.

The home side could have taken the lead in the 75th minute after a lovely move down the left, but Chatchai's shot skewed wide of the target.

The winning goal came two minutes later with Arzu finding the corner of the net after a precise free kick from just outside the box.

That goal was to prove to be the winner although BEC Tero's coach was sent to the stand five minutes from time after kicking a water bottle towards the linesman during a bout of frustration.

In my opinion both teams are probably a couple of players short of reaching their target this season; Tero's to win the TPL title and Bangkok United's to avoid a relegation battle. I'm not saying that the Angels will go down as they have some talented attacking players. Their weakness appears to be defensively and they give the impression that they'll ship a few goals this season.


Man of the Match: Arzu - The heartbeat of the BEC Tero side

New away end at Thai Japanese

Kasetsart 2-1 Osotspa M150 Saraburi

TPL side, Osotspa M150 Saraburi, were dumped out of the Toyota League Cup by 2nd division Kasetsart.

The 2nd division side looked hungrier and even though they weren't as technically skillful as their opponents, they deserved to pull off the upset.

It took me awhile to get focused on the match today as I was constantly interrupted by the stream of late arrivals into the stadium.

The opening goal was a terrific strike and it certainly caught the attention of all in attendance. Osotspa's Brazilian defender, Roberto da Silva lined up to take a free-kick from 40 yards. Nobody expected him to score, but from the second he struck it, I could see it was going in. It clipped in off the under side of the bar and hardly anybody in an Osotspa shirt ran to congratulate him.

After the goal, Osotspa had chances to increase their lead. They hit the post and Cleiton had a couple of chances that he could have done better with.

It was by no means one way traffic. Kasetsart kept plugging away and were rewarded for their effort shortly before the break. The goal was a bit fortuitous as Pritchya miscued his shot but luckily it fell into the path of Jean Jean and he swept it into the net.

Kasetsart seemed to grow in confidence after the break, and even though Osotspa looked a yard quicker, it was Kasetsart that wanted it more.

Kasetsart were cheered on by an usually vociferous support and the home side delighted them by scoring the winner with roughly 10 minutes remaining. The winner was a sweet strike and similar to the first goal, I could see it was net bound as soon as Witcharapol curled it with his right boot.

After the goal, Osotspa seemed to give up the ghost too easily and Kasetsart held out comfortably to achieve a memorable victory.

Other Toyota League Cup scores: 

Samut Prakarn FC 1-1 Sisaket (Sisaket won 4-2 on pens)
Kasem Bundit 0-5 Buriram PEA
Nakhon Phanom 3-4 Khon Kaen
Kabin City 1-4 Siam Navy
Nakhon Sawan 1-5 Chiangrai Utd
Nan FC 1-0 RBAC
Angthong 0-1 SP Customs
Pattalung 1-0 Songkla (AET)