Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Thai Port 2-0 Police United (agg 2-0)

The reigning Toyota League Cup winners moved into the last 8 of the competition with a 2-0 home victory over Police United.

The first leg's 0-0 draw at the Thammasart Stadium last month was a non event as far as excitement was concerned. Tonight's game was a bit more lively and lady luck was certainly on the side of Thai Port, courtesy of a blunder from the Police goalkeeper, Sompong Yod-ard, and the generosity of the referee.

The opening exchanges were pretty lively, and in the 10th minute the home side's keeper had to be alert to tip a long range shot over the bar.

After the initial flurry of activity, it appeared that the game was going to be a tight contest, but that was about to change on the half hour mark.

An innocuous, out swinging cross from Ekkapoom was harmlessly sailing across the Police goal line, and the catch looked like a routine one for the Police Utd goalkeeper. However, as Sompong leaped to catch the ball at the far post, he somehow managed to spill it into the net for an own-goal. It was that bad a mistake, it deserves to be on a Xmas 2011 DVD howler's compilation.

Just before half-time, Thai Port were again fortunate when the referee awarded a penalty for a weak challenge in the box on Ekkapoom. Even the loyalist Port fans in the PAT Stadium were shaking their heads in disbelief. Nonetheless, their joy then turned to fear as the man who missed Sunday's penalty against Pattaya, Worawut, stepped up to take the spot kick. This time though, he made amends by sending Sompong the wrong way.

The second half never really got going until 15 minutes from time. Police Utd then began to exert some pressure, and the closest they got to scoring was from a long range shot from Maxime that clipped the bar.

It wasn't to be for the Pathumthani side as Thai Port whittled down the clock to hold on for a 2-0 win.

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