Nonthaburi fc 0 Bangkok Christian College 0 - report

Credit: Nhong Tim

After an exciting but disappointing two-all draw last week, Eka dropped another two points at home in a contest against BCC that was quiet until an early second half incident in which sparked hostility in the crowd. 

The game was quiet, with Eka getting the better of it until Sutee threw a silly challenge at a BCC player, who responded with a shove. Sutee then swung for his face and followed with another swing at a second BCC player who rushed into the fray. The result was a red for Suttee and, controversially, only a yellow for the BCC player.

The decisions sparked fury from Sutee and he crowd but I can’t see how anyone can have complaints. The rules are clear - go for anyone’s face and you;re off. The BCC player only gave an angry shove after a very silly kick on the shins that he received.

Eka were awarded a penalty later on but the Christian College goalkeeper - probably the man of the match - performed a very impressive save from Tomi’s kick. Eka continued to have the better of the chances even with the disadvantage, but couldn’t break through.

So we still look for a win in leg two of the season. Normally it’s encouraging to have a youth team as their energy, pace and passion is great to watch. However this game reminded us of a downside, younger players can lack self-control at times and today I believe it cost us the points.

There were minor incidents in the crowd later, which the fan club have been discussing in the hope to avoid a repeat. Some people really need to grow up.

On a positive note, our dip in form has not seen us fall fatally away from the promotion chase. If we learn from the mistakes we made in this match and get back to winning ways, there’s still everything to play for.

Nonthaburi FC 0 Kasetstart Uni 1

Eka fell to defeat and a third successive game without scoring in a tight contest at home against Kasetstat University.

The game was settled by a very well taken goal in the second half from a KU player who wrong-sided his marker and finished clinically. Eka fought back and had a goal correctly disallowed for offside but looked slightly off the pace despite plenty of possession.

We now need to rest and rejuvenate for the trip to North Bangkok FC this weekend.

Two disappointments

credit: Nhong Tim

After a hard fought goalless draw at Leam Chabang last weekend, Nonthaburi exited the 2013 Thaicom FA Cup after a 0-2 defeat at TPL side Osotspa. The side gave a good account of themselves against opposition two divisions higher and despite these setbacks, can look forward to a hopeful promotion campaign for the rest of the season.

Eka are home to Kasetstart this Saturday.

2013 mid-season movements

Credit: Nonthaburi FC Facebook page

As the Bangkok and region division prepares to kick off next week after the mid-season break, Nonthaburi have released a list of "ins and outs" as "The Crows" bid to maintain their position at the very top of D2 BKK.

Outgoing players include Jorrin John, the highly-talented but temperamental player who clearly (and forgivably) looked like he was wondering what the heck he was doing in Division 2 much of the time. The former Leicester player has joined Nakhon Nayok and we will miss his link-up play with Tomi, which tore defences apart. Other departees include Patong (no.28) and Watcharit (no.40).

The ten (yes, ten) incoming players include a foreigner named Ebisawa alongside other names, all of which are new to me, as they come from the Muangthong United youth, reserve and scouting setups.   Now, there is no mention of Tomi on the list but next to Ebisawa (in Thai) is a message saying "2nd foreigner". The meaning of that is not clear to me as even with JJ leaving, we have more than 2 foreigners already and here is only one new foreigner. In any case, Tomi staying or leaving could decide what division we are in next season.

Updates on new players and remaining players to come soon.

Eka travel to Leam Chabang next Sunday.

Nonthbauri FC 1 Laem Chabang City 0 - video highlights

Photo credit: Nhong Tim

When Southampton were playing in League One with Championship and even a few BPL quality players, our (then) coach Nigel Adkins was asked how they cope with the rough, physical, kick and rush style tactics of the lower leagues. He replied “We have to win the right to play real football”.

I was reminded of that quote when I watched the highlights of this game, and I was wondering how much harder it must be to win that right when you have a hopelessly incompetent set of officials and an awful pitch.

Jorrin John was blatantly booted in the face in the early stages of the match, the linesman couldn’t have been closer to the incident if he tried, and the ref responded by telling both players “Stop, or I’ll say 'stop' again!”.

LCFC continued to play one of the dirtiest games of football I’ve ever seen and the officials continued to behave like junior cops sent to tackle a mafia ring on their first day of work. Late tackles, kicks, pulling and shoving continued throughout as better players  just tried to get on with the job.

In the end, quality just about shone through with the goal as no. 33 “Got” netted the goal for Eka and our keeper yet again made a superb string of saves to keep us in it. Alassane was dismissed following a shove on his neck by a LCFC player and at the very end of the game, a couple of opposition players displayed their jealousy of Tomi’s ability to actually play football by launching a double assault on him.  I must also say that as much as I admire our great work this season, I wonder how much of a good example our coach is, the way he gets involved and aggressive on every single incident. How can a team expect to show focus and composure when their leader can’t?

But we can take heart from this win that takes us to the top of the table and even greater encouragement from the way that even when everything else went against us, class came through and the better team won this game of football. Keep it up guys.

Updates

During my holiday Eka have continued their good form and sit second place in D2 BKK.

I'll be back in two weeks to continue the reports.

For the person who left a comment basically attacking every Eka player and every official in a recent match, post your comment again, only this time show some backbone and don't post as anonymous, then I'll publish it.

Nonthaburi 2 Roi Et Utd 2 (Nonthaburi win 8-7 on pens)

How we roll

All photo credits: Bank Kammo

Nonthaburi entered round three (also known as the first round proper, just like the English counterpart) last Wednesday after making life a little hard.

Roi Et United took an impressive amount of fans south to Nonthaburi and roared their team on but it was the home side who drew first blood midway through the first half with a goal by Traore following a run from midfield.

The lead was extended after a goalkeeping mistake gifted Tomi a chance, but the English forward still had to keep his composure to finish and he did so.

The game should have been killed off but substitutions changed the flow of the game and Roi Et saw a lot more possession in the final thirty minutes of action, culminating in an injury time equaliser that sent the team and its fans wild.

Everyone got stuck in

As with the previous round, a draw after 90 minutes meant we went straight to penalties. What with the last minute equaliser, our previous penalty win, the surrender of a two goal lead and the fact that Roi Et did not, as far as I know, have any English fans in their end all made me feel that our luck was exhausted. Yet Roi Et missed their first penalty and suddenly it all started to feel like a repeat of the previous cup game. Less so when we missed our second penalty.

From then on it was a heart-stopping, nerve-jangling collection of well-taken penalties from both sides until ...YES! Roi Et miss penalty number seven (if my memory serves me well).

And then we miss our penalty, too. It's that horrid feeling in your gut that hits you when this happens.


So here comes their next name on the list and...YEEEESSSSS! Roi Et miss penalty no.eight!

And then my favourite moment of the game. Our number 14 (Athikun) walked over to the penalty spot. Of course this was sudden death so he had not volunteered to take a penalty and perhaps was just a tad nervous. He looked over to the fans, saw them roaring him on and clenched his fist. I don’t know why, but it was good to see.

He scored. We won. Great job Athikun!


Despite everything that happened - I haven’t even mentioned Cedric sacrificing himself via a late tactical foul that earned him his second yellow of the game - this match wasn’t a classic by any means, thanks in no small part to yet another ref who believes that a strong official has to blow his whistle at least once every ten seconds.  Yet the penalty shoot out was as tense as any I‘ve witnessed and it’s worth noting that even with players like Alasanne playing less than half the game we still managed to overcome a team sitting 3rd in the North East table.

Keep up the great form, lads. If we draw a D1 team at home in the next round, I fancy an upset.