Dateline 30^th April 2016

 NRFC 1 Sukhothai 3

The visitors today were the Fire Bats from Sukhothai. The newly promoted Sukhothai have made an encouraging start to their first TPL campaign.

In front of a disappointing crowd - maybe 8-10 000 (hardly surprising considering the Swatcats early season performances) the opening 20 minutes were devoid of any major incidents or chances of note.

In the 21^st minute a Malek snap shot had the visitor’s keeper on the hop then Tagbajumi blazed over from 12 yards. Minutes later under pressure from Tagbajumi, a Sukhothai headed own goal gave the hosts the lead.

34 minutes in and some neat passing football culminated in a Lindemann drive soaring over the bar. The hosts now seem to be gaining momentum and another sweet forward move resulted in a long range shot.

In a defensive disaster in the 43^rd minute, the host’s keeper failed to control a tame back pass and an alert Sukhothai forward pounced to tap the ball into an empty net.

In a half when the visitors offered little up front, the Swatcats, despite not setting the world on fire, looked the better side. Sukhothai look very poor and anything but a Swatcats win tonight would be a disappointment.

The second half started with both teams trading tame attacking moves but in the 63^rd minute a Bireme rocket cannoned off the crossbar after some good work on the flank from Biaggio.

Local hero Prompong replaced Malek in the 73^rd minute and in the 81st minute in a rare foray forward, an unmarked Bireme headed Sukhothai ahead. Biaggio added a third in the 93rd minute to complete a disappointing evening for the hosts.

The team is not playing badly but does not seem to be able to put teams away. With attendances dwindling and our home form crumbling, this could be a long season ahead - an improvement on last year’s 8^th place seems a world away.

I’m not sure what is going wrong at the moment but there seems to be little service provided for the strikers. Also the fact that one week it’s Adeyeah up front and the next it’s Tagbajumi hardly provides much continuity or confidence for either player.

On present performances a relegation battle is looming…how long before the call for Kambe’s head!!!