Nonthaburi FC: Rajpracha 1 Chang Rai United 2

I'm sad to report that Rajpracha Nonthaburi went down 1 -2 in their play off game against Chang Rai United.

The first half was dominated by Chang Rai, with the away side showing greater pace and frequently wrong-footing the Rajpracha back line. It was a surprisingly one sided game for at least the first half hour, and the blues seemed strangely lacking in confidence. One overhit cross by a Chang Rai winger had the home goalkeeper screaming at his defenders to collect it, yet they froze and the keeper had to come out of his box to cover it.

On twenty four minutes the inevitable happened as number twenty six scored for Chang Rai with a header from point blank range. That lead was nearly doubled on two occasions within the next ten minutes. One excellent stop from the home goalie and a miss by centimeters kept the score down.

Two minutes before half time however the lead was indeed doubled as one player I couldn't identify scored from a penalty box scramble.

The second half saw a lot more pressure from Rajpracha with greater use of width, more ground passing and more pressure from the wing backs, yet still the hosts showed little penetration. A disputed penalty, taken by number seven (I think) allowed them back into the game. but the goal only served to wake up Chang Rai. An innocuous scuffle between two players bought police, security and a surprisingly aggressive poodle onto the pitch for the obligatory Thai football ruckus. This was the final highlight though, as Chang Rai played down the clock to seal a vital away win, much to the delight of the 150 or so traveling fans, who made good noise throughout.

Personal reflections of my first lower league game:

I enjoyed the game and was impressed with the attendance, which I'd guess was around 300 - 400 with good colour and noise from both sets of fans. The standard of football was not far behind the TPL. What did shock me was the seemingly blasé attitude from Rajpracha players. At half time they were smiling, play-fighting and making remarkably little effort at their warm up exercises. (The one exception to this being the African striker who came on at half time). Now when my team is losing two-nil in a play off game, I expect them to be seriously ticked off, not laughing,joking and chatting. The Brazilian coach was nowhere in sight and I saw absolutely no interaction between players and coaching staff other than someone handing the players water bottles. I understand many Rajpracha players are university students who get scholarships from the club. I expect them to be motivated and hungry to play in division one, just one step away from the Premiership.

EDIT: Some real pictures now thanks to the credited people.