Thursday 11 October 2012

TOT SC 1 Muangthong United 1 - report


Our battles with TOT this season have all been entertaining, hard-fought, dirty and unpredictable. This one was no different.

No doubt details of Chonburi’s loss at Esan United filtered through at half time to the players  who all gave 110% in this encounter. Mario and Adnan combined to score a superb goal that was disallowed but the pressure continued until Mongkul inexplicably lost his discipline and headbutted a TOT player directly in front of the ref. Said player naturally went down from the very soft connection as though he’d been struck with Batman’s batarang and Mongkul walked.

We continued to match TOT for possession but a clinical finish from former Rajpracha player Prakit Deeprom put TOT ahead. It must have been a day of mixed emotions for the player as his former club were effectively relegated from D1 the same night.

We equalised quickly with a Siaka header from a corner. Siaka went in with one hand raised and Weera - on loan from us protested furiously that it was handball. It wasn’t. Weera was a possible MOTM contender tonight and almost certainly was the main reason TOT defeated us in the TLC and he is, technically, an MTU player. Why did we not insert a simple ‘can’t play against us’ clause in the loan contract?

Still on the subject of Weera, he yelled in the ref’s face, pulled his shorts, ostensibly demonstrating what had been done to him but doing so aggressively and gestured aggressively in the ref’s face. The punishment? The yellow card the ref had already told him he’s get before his tantrum.

Another card surfaced when a TOT player caught Teerasil’s calf muscle for his second yellow. He clapped sarcastically several times towards the ref (no further punishment) but luckily the remaining cards were for late but innocent challenges by MTU players.

Both sides had chances and the script really seemed written when Teerasil took a shot in the dying seconds of injury time but it went just wide. It means we need just one more point. It was a brave effort from the lads today and their hard work should pay off at home to Chai Nat on Sunday.

Man of the Match 
Adnan Barakat showed some superb touches today. He's been in and out of the side more than other players but that is actually paying dividends now, as he looks less tired than some of the squad and is starting to shine.

Photos: Jirawat, via the OS



1 comment:

  1. TOT are currently my least favorite team in the TPL because of their diving, time wasting, cheap shots, dangerous tackles, and the way they carry on with sarcastic clapping, dancing around, getting in the refs face, and mocking the opposition fans.

    And yes, the next time MTU loan out a player they need to add in a "not against us" clause. Although Weera didn't have to make too many great saves last night. MTU simply looked spent.

    Oh well, bring on Chainat!

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