After a disappointing nil-one defeat at home last week, Eka were handed a surprisingly quick chance for redemption when this game was switched from Thonburi to Eka's home of Wat Boat, presumably due to water-logging at Thonburi's stadium. It was still officially listed as a home game for Thonburi and Eka fans were placed in the away section of the Stadium.
Nonthaburi took the lead with a neat finish by 31. Theerapong following some one touch football in the first half. Thonburi equalised later with a clear-cut penalty decision that was duly converted. This was the only downer of the game for goalie Manop, who played his first fixture of the season despite being the best goalie we have in my opinion.
Towards the end of the game Eka started to push harder, causing one Thonburi player to throw himself down and play dead. At this point their stretcher man announced to the ref that he was coming on to the pitch and strolled on before waiting for the ref's permission. Said ref was too nervous to respond. This moment really summed up the officials in this game and indeed many of the problems with officials in Thailand, period.
So the game ended 1-1. It was an enjoyable contest despite having the feel of an end of season encounter between mid-table teams with nothing left to play for, which is what it was.
We now head towards the end of the season, though we still have a home game with champions Kasetstart to look forward to. Soon it will be time to look back at an enjoyable if slightly disappointing season and think about what changes need to be made for 2012. There's no doubt we have quality players in the likes of Manop, Janewit ("on loan") Prasop, Korawut, Grant, Reece, and Sathit and the whole squad look motivated.
So what, then, is the reason for the lack of play-off push? Clearly, goals have been a problem and this was screamingly obvious before the mid-season transfer window, and was not addressed when the window opened. What we did do in the window was allow Janewit - by far our best defender - to go and failed to replace him, even allowing another quality defender in Soloman to walk away.
There are other questions: our players are true professionals yet appear to tire earlier than other teams, they play at their best when playing by instinct (when losing or under pressure) rather than following a game plan and substitutions appear random and rarely involve a tactical switch. Who is responsible for this? Surely it's the coach. If we want next season to be different, we need to take a serious look at the staff set-up. Still whatever happens, the players will have the loyal fans of the "Rookery" to cheer them on.
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