Dateline 12^th November – Match day 33.

 FT NRFC 2 Bangkok Glass 1

The Glass rabbits were the opponents in the penultimate home game of the season at the 80^th Anniversary Stadium.

Dominic Adiyiah opened the scoring in the 8th minute with a glorious drive that curved deliciously into the corner of the net eluding a diving keeper. With growing confidence, the Swatcats pressured and Paulo Rangel misses a golden chance to put the hosts 2 up when his half volley from 8 yards thundered against the bar. Bangkok Glass countered with one shot being well saved by Weera and another fizzing just wide of the post.

The first half concluded with honours about even but with the hosts holding that important one goal lead.

The second half commenced with Glass continuing to knock the ball about confidently, The Swatcats meanwhile defended bravely with Victor Igbonefo prominent but the home team did not help their cause by continually surrendering possession in midfield with misplaced passes.

Bangkok Glass bagged an equalizer in the 74th minute with a well struck Chitpanya Thisud free kick from 25 yards and with the Swatcats sitting back, Bangkok Glass became increasingly dominant.

With Bangkok later becoming restricted to harmless long range shots, the Swatcats continued to break forward sporadically and they went close with one shot cleared off the line and another scrambled clear.

On 78 minutes, with Swatcats’ fans wondering if their team could hold out for the draw, Dominic Adiyiah latched onto a long ball forward, eluded an advancing keeper and rolled the ball into the net to put the men from Korat two one up.

An anxious last 10 minutes as Bangkok searched for the equalizer but the hosts kept their nerve and ran out deserved winners of the contest.

An encouraging result for the Swatcats and a 5 star performance from Dominic Adiyiah. Although it was plain to see that Bangkok Glass were a technically more gifted side, the Swatcats manfully slugged away and just about deserved the three points. Swatcat fans like myself looked on enviously as Glass regularly broke forward with fine passing moves and great technical skills - skills sadly lacking within the home team!!

Despite a massive advantage in possession throughout the match for the visitors, the hosts actually created the best chances and with Sukhothai at home next weekend a hat-trick of consecutive home wins is within the team’s grasp.

A footnote; the game was watched by 1583 fans - an utter disgrace for a city of Korat’s side. One has to ask, does the city deserve a Premier League team?

Match Day 33 Stats