Dateline 30^th September 2017 – Match day 29.

  FT Thai Honda 1 NRFC 2

Relegation threatened Thai Honda welcomed the 14^th placed Swatcats this weekend. With neither side firing on all cylinders, this could be a dour encounter. With Honda all but doomed to Tier 2 football next season they will be fighting for pride and could prove a hard team to beat.

This game was rearranged after the previous postponement due to torrential rain.

 The hosts opened brightly and in the 12^th minute, Roninho was inches wide with a drive. Minutes later, following a corner, a fine looping header from the visitors hit the bar and bounced down onto the goal line - a lucky escape for Thai Honda!! From the resulting second corner, the Swatcats almost scrambled the ball into the net after a 6 yard box melee but a free kick was awarded for a foul on the keeper.

Honda went ahead in the 22^nd minute when Roninho struck a magnificent 25 yard free kick into the top corner of the net and in a half of few real chances, skipper Chalermpong headed just wide minutes before half time.

On the stroke of half time, Dominic Adiyiah audaciously back heeled a low corner kick into the net to level the scores. The men from Korat could consider themselves slightly lucky to be on level terms at half time with Honda dominating possession and frankly looking the better of the two teams.

The second half kicked off with the Swatcats hunting for a second but with Thai Honda continuing to move the ball around well, this could be anyone’s game - an individual touch of brilliance could ultimately turn this encounter.

As in the first half, the second half was almost devoid of clear chances from either side with a long range effort from Roninho in the 71^st minute being a rare highlight. In the 76^th minute a sweeping move forward put Naruphol clear but he failed to connect and the ball was cleared. From the resulting corner Victor Igbonefo headed in from 6 yards to put the Swatcats ahead.

The last 10 minutes saw some late pressure from the home team with Weera saving well from a Jesus drive but the Swatcats defended sensibly and managed to hold onto their lead.

As expected, a dour battle between two struggling sides - it was not pretty to watch. A typical performance from the Swatcats - a clear lack of punch up front and too many balls given away in midfield.  Not a sparkling performance but a very useful 3 points. The team is now up to 13^th in the league and is 11 points clear of Si Saket. Safety is beginning to look assured … but I do worry about next season.

Match Day 29 - Stats.