The Story So Far (Part 3) - Business as Usual

Part 3 features the clubs that aren't expected to win the title but at the same time are far too good to go down.

Army United

Current Position: 4th

Optimism wasn’t high at the Home of Gentleman pre-season but so far most of the Army support have been pleasantly surprised with what they have seen. In hindsight, I really should have included Army in the 'surprise packages' section rather than this one. Matt Elliott has his side playing decent football and the unexpected emergence of Tanakorn has boosted his side’s goalscoring options. With Goran Jerkovic upfront as well, Army are guaranteed goals provided the Frenchman is provided ammunition inside the box. New signing Wellington Priori has become a fan favourite and similar to Anderson dos Santos at Chonburi, he is just as comfortable in the back four or playing the slightly more advanced defensive midfield role. Army finished 7^th last year and they won’t finish far off that spot again. They will face a stiff test in the month of May as four of their next five games are against the top 4 sides of 2013.

Osotspa Saraburi

Current Position: 7th

Osotspa have a decent roster of players and are looking good for a top six finish. The only hindrance appears to be their temporary home at the Rajamangala. Apart from a 7-0 thumping of Songkhla, they’ve had a lean time at the national arena. On the road, Osotspa are unbeaten and have enjoyed more success on their travels. With Chananan, Komenan and Aron da Silva, the Saraburi club have no shortage of firepower.

Chainat

Current Poition: 12th

The Hornbills apparently have one of the biggest budgets in the league yet they still linger in mid-table. Defensively they have been relatively sound but they don’t score enough goals. They'll need to capture a striker or two to provide them with sufficient goals if they are to attain a top half finish. Unfortunately for Chainat, the only award they look like they’ll be winning in 2014 is the worst shirt in the TPL.

Bangkok Glass

Current Position: 11th 

Bangkok Glass have continued to be consistently inconsistent. On their day they can beat the best and then follow that up with a dire performance against one of the weaker sides. They have struggled away from their astroturf and have lost four out of six away days. BG are good going forwards but a couple of new defenders must be a requirement when the transfer window reopens.

Suphanburi

Current Position: 9th

After a fourth placed finish last year, Suphanburi were expected to kick on and were considered title candidates. They brought in Mano Polking as coach from Army who then proceeded to bring Bjorn Lindemann and Jung Myung Oh with him. The fact that their position is no better than Army’s in 2013 shouldn't come as a big surprise. In all honesty, Mano has a tough act to follow after the club exceeded all expectations last season. Nonetheless, not even the most optimistic of the Suphanblood contingent would have predicted their 5-2 humbling of Muangthong last Sunday. That result coupled with Dragan Boskovic's imminent return from injury indicates that brighter times are ahead at Suphanburi after their sluggish start.

Chiang Rai United

Current Position: 13th

After their flirtation with relegation last season, the northern side are back into their more accustom mid-table position. Leandro Assumpcao has returned from Chonburi and is the club’s top goalscorer. Pichitpong has brought grit and experience to the middle of the park and home form should see them finish somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Chainat 1-2 Chonburi

Chonburi kept themselves firmly in the title race with a deserved 2-1 win over 10 man Chainat.

It was a fairly slow start to the game in the humid temperature with little to note in the first 20 minutes.

Thiago Cunha had been the most likely threat in the early stages and it was the Brazilian who opened the scoring in the 28th minute when he drilled home an Ifran Bachdim cross at the back post.

That lead for the Sharks lasted for barely a minute as the referee spotted an infringement inside the Chonburi box. Most of the spectators failed to see why he awarded a penalty, but the home crowd weren't complaining when Sumanya sent Sintaweechai the wrong way to level matters.

Chainat were dealt a blow in first half injury time when Tanongsak was given a second yellow for a lunge at Adul. The lack of protest from the men in pink suggested the ordering off was merited.

The second half then became basically one way traffic. Pipob should really have netted a diving header shortly after the break, and substitute goalkeeper Chalermkiat made a fantastic one handed save from Thiago minutes later.

The decisive goal came on the hour as Diakite rose majestically at the back post to nod home an Ifran cross to make it 2-1.

Therdask could have wrapped the game up five minutes from time, but the ball stuck under his feet inside the six yard box.

Chainat's 10 men never really looked like getting back into the match as Chonburi held out for a vital three points.

Man of the Match: Thiago Cunha - The Paolo Di Canio of Thai football

Army United 1-1 Chainat

TPL new boys Chainat were held as Matius Recio's 82nd minute goal earned a share of the points for Army United.

Team line-ups

Thanakorn handed Chainat the lead in the 22nd minute as his sweetly struck free kick beat Kosin in the Army goal.

Bjorn Lindemann had a shot tipped around the post and the German also clipped the bar from a corner as the home side pressed for an equalizer before the interval.

In the second half, both keepers had to be alert to make crucial saves. Sarayoot was denied on 63 minutes when Panupong made a great save with his right foot after good build up play from the Army. About five minutes later, Kosin got his fingers to a Michael Byrne drive to knock it past the post to keep the Bangkok side in the contest.

With time running out, Army brought on their Argentinian striker, Matius, and within minutes the big man levelled as he beat the offside trap to notch his first goal in Army colors.

Chainat fans

Over the balance of play 1-1 was a fair result. Army fielded several new players and there were plenty of positives. Chainat certainly weren't overawed playing their first ever TPL game and showed that they will comfortably cope with the higher standard of football. Also a mention must go to the fantastic support that Chainat got from their fans. At a rough estimate I'd say they brought 2,500-3,000 down to the capital. Very impressive stuff!!

Army United 0-0 Chainat - Match Abandoned After 5 Mins

Tonight's Thai FA Cup quarter final was abandoned after 5 minutes due to a rare January rain storm.

As I was heading towards the stadium, it was unusually dark in the eastern Bangkok skyline. My thoughts were, "It's January, surely it won't rain" - how wrong was I as it started pissing down at about 6.30pm!!

The pitch at the Army Stadium usually holds up well in the rain, but tonight it didn't.

The game started yet within a couple of minutes, it was blatantly obvious that the pitch was unplayable. The referee called a halt to the match after 5 minutes as the ball was being sucked up by the puddles on the pitch.

An announcement was made that the play would resume in 45 minutes, but it never did as the rain continued.

The result was that the game was abandoned and will be replayed tomorrow evening.

Other FA Cup results:

Loei City 0-4 Songkla
Buriram PEA 2-0 BEC Tero
Muangthong 4-0 Sriracha

Team line-ups

Match action

Ref calls a halt to play

Officials test pitch - no joy :(

BBCU 0-1 Chainat

In the battle of the pinks, they away team wearing white took the honours courtesy of a goal scored by a man wearing pink.

Having watched plenty of Thai Port games recently, I could tell from the offset that this was going to be a low scoring game.

The first real chance of the game came midway through the first half for Chainat. Ex-Muangthong Utd midfielder, Kabfah, chipped a ball over over the BBCU back 4 into the path of Phuwadol, but Chainat's leading goalscorer fluffed his shot wide.

Phuwadol was replaced 10 minutes later by Michael Byrne which suggests the marksman might have been carrying an injury.

A minute before the break, a cross from the left was turned into his own net by BBCU's Kobenan Lion to give the Pink Rangers a 1-0 half time lead.

In the second half the Pink Power huffed and puffed trying to pierce Chainat's rearguard. They came close just after the break when Julius squared to Uwanaka in the box, but the Nigerian shot wide.

After that, the nearest BBCU came to scoring was in the 5th minute of injury time. Unfortunately for the home team Justin Prince headed wide when he should have at least hit the target.

Since the resumption of the second leg of the season, BBCU have played 7, won 2, drawn 3 and lost 2. That is mid-table form and will they be able to secure a TPL spot for next season playing like this? They probably will just about make it, but if this form continues they can forget about being league champions. BBCU play Songkla on Saturday and a win in that should be enough to guarantee them at least a third placed finish. A loss though, could see a nervous final third of the season for the Pink Power fans who bang those pink inflatable things together.

Attendance: 1,115