Chainat pay the penalty

Seeing red

Thai League 2 2022-2023

Saturday 26 November 2022
Chiang Mai FC 2 Chainat Hornbill FC 1  

Chiang Mai FC:


Fahas
Suwannapat
Sarawut
Piyachanok
Stewart
Saharat
Ronnayod
Kiadtisak
Thammayut
Gustavsson
Kim BoYong

(Apologies – I forgot to post this earlier to it appears out of sequence)

A Kim BoYong penalty and a smart far post finish from Suchanon gave Chiang Mai a come from behind win against a Chainat side that in the first half had looked capable of securing their first away win of the season.

The lowest home crowd of the season, 836, saw an unexpected starting line-up with Filipovic on the bench, together with Suchanon, Suwit, Tawan and Pongrawit. While Thammayut offered width on the left Stewart had simply too much ground to cover unsupported on the right side.

An early run from Gustavsson drew a foul from Apichok who was booked. It would not be his last offense. Thammayut’s free kick narrowly cleared the cross bar.

Chainat’s approach was straightforward. They are not a big team; crosses into the area were gobbled up by PIyachanok and Suwannapat. Chainat needed to look for balls in behind the Chiang Mai defense for their forwards to run onto.

Chatuphum was beaten to one such ball by Fahas rushing outside his area to make a tackle.

A mazy run from Chatuphum on the left set up Tanayut and his eighteen yard shot was well grasped by Fahas diving to his left.

A Ronnayod run and cross reached Kim BoYong but his close range effort was scrambled clear by Chaiyapat in goal.

Five minutes before half time Chainat scored in the style that they had been threatening. Sarayut’s through ball had enough pace to beat Sarawut and reach Poomipat who very calmly took a touch before sliding the ball past the advancing Fahas.

Chiang Mai needed to make changes. They did; and then dominated the second half. Tawan replaced Gustavsson and Pongrawit replaced Kiadtisak.  Both offered pace and width that had previously been missing.

Thammayut was still enjoying his wide role on the left; a well struck low cross evaded both Kim and Tawan. Minutes later his cross needed an excellent defensive header from Warinthorn.

It was all Chiang Mai with the option to go direct or down either wing.

63 minutes gone and Kim BoYong timed his run perfectly onto a Sarawut’s long ball over the top and into the penalty area; goalside of Ninlomat he was hauled down. There was no questioning the penalty. And Ninlomat knew that he was getting a red card. Chainat were down to ten men.

Chainat’s leading scorer Diego Silva came on but was no threat.

The referee needed to be firmer with the gamesmanship around the penalty. Chainat making two slow substitutions while their defenders sledged Kim.

The Korean forward’s revenge was to calmy slide the ball to the goalkeeper’s left for 1-1.

Almost five minutes passed from the foul in the area to scoring the penalty. Not good enough from the officials.

Minutes later Suchanon was at the back post to score from Stewart’s excellent first time cross from the right side.

Stewart came close to adding a third with a left foot shot inches over the crossbar.

At the other end Fahas made a solid stop at the near post from a free kick.

Any sympathy for Chainat’s young side evaporated with a shocking final minute challenge by Apichok who launched himself two-footed into Tawan with the sort of disgraceful tackle that breaks limbs and that has no place on any football pitch.

Tawan fortunately appeared mostly unharmed.

Against ten men and a side that has only one point away from home this season it did seem as though the home side was hanging on for a win; the end of match celebrations were a sign of that relief.

It was, for everyone at or around CMFC, a much needed three points.

Next Sunday, 4 December, CMFC travel to Udon Thani – kick off is an early start at 5.30pm

On a personal note this was a family outing with my two favourite people coming with me to the game. It is over three years since I last saw my son, Alex. Such a treat to see him. He may not admit it but I think he even enjoyed the football!