NRFC 1 Chainat Hornbills 0

An important battle at the 80^th Anniversary Stadium tonight as both teams sought to ease their respective relegation fears. As the second leg commences, a real mid season “6 pointer”.

An encouraging 8000 fans welcomed the two teams. Early sparring led to few real chances but with the hosts playing with more resolve. In a rare foray forward by Chainat, a defender’s clearance bounced luckily off the bar to save an embarrassing own goal.

Lindemann, Adeyeah and Tagbajumi continued to link well and in the 27^th minute, the game burst into life when Tagbajumi went close with a diving header after good work from Adeyeah. The Swatcats continued to press, looking dangerous up front and in the 45^th minute Nagano went close with a header after a Tagbajumi flick.

The half came to a close with neither side able to break the deadlock but with the Swatcats “bossing” the game.

Chainat began the second half with a flourish with a snap shot well saved. The hosts then continued to press with a Tagbajumi shot on the turn inches wide.

In the 60^th minute Lindemann broke the deadlock when he cut in from the flank and unleashed a thunderbolt from the edge of the box to put the home team ahead – candidate for goal of the season perhaps?

In the 66^th minute the hosts struck the post after some good work from Tagbajumi. Adeyeah then fired over from 12 yards as they strived to increase their lead. A weak header in the 80^th minute apart, Chainat offered little as the hosts battled for a second goal.

Another strong performance against a weak Chainat team - and another stride towards safety.

A couple of observations - Chivuta is now not a regular starter, maybe because of tiredness or injury Noah is being used sparingly and the team are getting used to coping without him (dare I say playing better without him!!!). Bjorn Lindemann has been playing out of his skin – he seems newly motivated. Adeyeah and Tagbajumi are becoming increasingly effective up front – and I think there is more to come. Adeyeah in particular is putting in real shifts, tackling back and dropping deep to help in defence.

All in all this is a different team to that which played in the early season games – well motivated, better shape on the pitch and playing together as a team. All this must be attributed to Milos Joksic and I commend him for his efforts - all we need now is for the fans to start streaming back!!