Samut Sakhon 0 Nontahburi FC 2 - report and highlights

"It's simple lads, just produce the biggest upset of the season."

Supporters of both sides met for a seven-a-side kickabout at a nearby futsal arena before this game and I played my part by making the 2012 Robbie Fowler look like the 1995 Matt Le Tissier. Evidence of this exists online but will certainly not be published by me! The short trip back to the Samut Sakhon Stadium caused the vast majority of away fans to miss our opening goal, which is why the cheers are so few in the video you see below.

No.25 S.Chattong - has made a huge difference

I’ve been ranting about the need for a target man for Eka for two seasons now, they finally acquired one by the name of Siroch in mid-season and the benefit was obvious not just for his goal but his overall contribution to the team.

A frustrated SS goalie

The goal stunned the home crowd and as expected, the home side and league leaders Samut Sakhon piled on some pressure in response, but the benefit of our new coach was also obvious as we kept calm under pressure and tight on the opposing forwards to deny them space and force them to snatch at chances. I wouldn’t be atall surprised to hear our new coach and his side have studied some videos of England’s defending in Euro 2012 to learn how arguably technically superior teams can be defied by using double-layered defending. We played a similar way today and it paid off.

There were two other important events in the first half. The first was a free kick to Eka in which Samut Sakhon’s no.16 decided to get in the ref’s face, yell at him and (study the clip below at 3:13 carefully) actually jab a finger in the ref’s chest. It earned him a yellow card at the time and would come back to haunt him later.

The second incident was a shocking two-footed challenge by no.6 which was high, nowhere near the ball and stopped the player going through on goal. Not only did the ref allow play to go on but the home side refused to kick the ball out of play for the injured man to be treated. In many circumstances I’d applaud the continuation of play as the “gentleman’s rule” has been abused so much in Thailand as a time-wasting technique. Sadly in this case it was nothing of the sort and the injured player was subbed off two minutes later. The offender was not even spoken to. See the clip below at around 4:40.

We took it to them

In the second half I was expecting Eka to basically set up camp in their own area but to the massive credit of everyone involved they set their sights higher. Midway through the second period (10:20 in the clip) SS’s no .16 committed a late challenge and didn’t even look at the ref before handing over his captain’s armband and walking towards his early bath. To make it even sweeter, the resulting free kick produced our second goal from no.39, Jakkrit. Perhaps Samut Sakhon’s captain will think more carefully about his responsibilities before needlessly trying to bully the official and acting like a general idiot next time.

With the one man advantage Eka still refused to sit back and perhaps my favourite moment of the game was Siroch’s long range effort that hit the corner of the goalposts. To see a player possessing the kind of confidence to even attempt that shot gives me hope that we can move up the table.

Final result 0-2. This has been the most unexpected result I’ve ever seen since I saw Southampton beat Man Utd 6-3 in 1996. Today was fantastic not just for the score alone but the performance that produced it, the influence of the new players, the calmness of our defence - our goalie had the best game of his Eka career today - and the news that we have two new Korean players who have not even debuted yet.

We can’t get over-excited, we’re still bottom of the table, but at least now all my “cause for hope” comments can be at least partly vindicated.
Well done and a heartfelt thank you to every single player and staff member at Eka for their commitment, attitude and bravery. This game was another one for the scrap books.

Photo credits: Nhong Tim