Dateline 12^th March 2016

 NRFC 1 BEC Tero Sasana 0

The Swatcats welcomed the Fire Dragons to the 80^th Anniversary Stadium looking to open their points account and to attempt to spice up a rather disappointing opening to the season.

In front of an attendance of around 12 000 thousand fans (was not at the match so only a guess) the home team opened up their points account with a deserved victory.

The Swatcats started with Adiyeah up front in place of Marco Tagbajumi who was on the bench.

A disappointing first 20 minutes saw neither side make any significant chances. The home team’s passing movements were laboured and tended to pose no real threat to Tero’s defence with long speculative punts to Adiyeah being used to little effect.

A header from a corner that hit the Swatcat’s upright and luckily bounced back into the home keeper’s arms was the only real action in the first 30 minutes – a largely unspectacular start to the match.

A Lindemann shot in the 31^st minute seemed to “wake up” the home team and a flurry of chances resulted with pressure being exerted. Adido hit the upright in the 35^th minute as the Swatcats hunted for an opening goal and Chivuta struck a 20 metre shot a couple of feet wide after good work on the flank from Adido.

The second half saw the home team pressing forward and putting more pressure on Tero’s defence with Adido causing problems for the defenders. A Lindemann shot flew wide as The Swatcats began to exert almost constant pressure – surely a goal was going to come.

A welcome return for Prompong as substitute and almost immediately, in the 75^th minute Nagano rose to nod in a goal from a corner kick.

Tero broke sporadically and in the 81^st minute they produced a header that bounced off the upright and in the 85^th minute the home keeper saved well to preserve the home team’s lead.

In truth Tero looked a very ordinary side and I feel that a better side may have taken advantage of the home team’s performance tonight. Playing one up front does not look very convincing – I look forward to seeing Adiyeah and Tagbajumi linking up in future games.

A very useful 3 points however and on balance a deserved victory with the second half performance showing some real spirit and hope for the future.