Dateline 26^th May 2018

 FT Chang Rai 1 NRFC 2

Attendance; 3009

The Swatcats, in dire need of a decent performance, took on the inform Beetles this weekend.

In a disastrous start for the visitors, Chang Rai were awarded a penalty in the first minute for a foul on Cardoso. Samuel Cunningham brought off a tremendous save from the spot kick but in the following melee, the home side scrambled the ball into the net.

In the 13^th minute Ekkachai drew a fine save from the home keeper with a 40 yard screamer as the Swatcats countered - in fact the Swatcats put together more passes in the first 10 minutes than they did in the whole of the recent Chonburi game.

The visitors were rewarded with this brief period of pressure when Sarawut scored a fine solo goal in the 19^th minute. Chang Rai fought back and there was drama in the 26^th minute when Cardoso headed in from a free kick but he was adjudged to have fouled keeper Cunningham and the goal was ruled out.

Cleiton headed just over in the 37^th minute as the hosts began to exert pressure and despite his excellent earlier penalty save, this was the third time that Cunningham had flapped at and misjudged a cross. Minutes later he completely fluffed a simple shot and luckily for him, the follow up shot hit the bar.

In first half added time, the Swatcats were awarded a penalty for handball - a harsh decision in my opinion. Sarawut chipped in the spot kick with mischievous aplomb to give the men from Korat a first half lead.

With a shock on the cards, the beetles pressed but the visitors defended bravely with two lines of 4 men effectively trying to park the proverbial bus. With my limited tactical knowledge, I thought that the team was, as usual, defending too deep and one thought that it would be a tall order to hold onto their slender lead.

 Despite their defensive posture, the visitors looked dangerous at times on the break and Chang Rai, despite their pressure, were not creating real chances.

In the 77^th minute Cunningham redeemed himself when he tipped a header around the post and as Chang Rai pressed incessantly, an equalizer looked increasingly likely.

The visitors continued to hold their ground and following a break, Pina missed a Golden chance to seal the victory in the 91^st minute when he blasted over after being set up by the marauding Sawawut.

An improved performance from the team tonight - a spunky performance with no Adiyiah or Rangel of course and Pina left on the bench. A massive second half rearguard action was rewarded with a fine and needed 3 points. This is the type of performance that will give us a chance of survival - more of the same please boys.

We now sit in 11^th place (and on equal points with 8^th place Suphanburi) at the end of Leg 1 - I would have settled for that at the start of the season !!

Footnote 1; A quick look at the table shows how important this result was. If we had lost we would be 1 point off the relegation places.

Foot note 2; It is pretty obvious where our problems lie - only 18 goals scored, only Air Force, Navy and Ubon have scored less - let’s hope we secure a couple of decent strikers for Leg 2.

Match Day 17 Stats