Kleeb Bua is always a great stadium to visit. Fantastic in its own right, but with its beautiful backdrop of the Kanchanaburi hills, and stacked with history not too far away it is special. The only problem is that it’s always so damned hot. Last season the mercury was at 44C when the teams kicked off. Earlier this season it was at 40C, and yesterday it was a cool 37C.
We arrived at the stadium, only to be told that the team was beset by injuries. We would be fielding probably our weakest side against a team striving for a higher level. However, it wasn’t really noticeable, and they all played well as a team. Nobody stood out as being out of their depth. It was a good all round Hua Hin performance. The entire squad have been moulded into an effective football team, irrespective of who is on the field.
I think we were fortunate that Muangkan’s star man, their No.23 who did most of the damage in our previous 2 games was not starting. He did make an appearance for the last 30 minutes, and still had that star quality at t4 level.
The match kicked off with Muangkan very much in the ascendancy for the first 15 minutes, but our makeshift defence played very well, holding back the hosts firmly.
Hua Hin gradually fought their way into contention, but suffered a devastating blow when Muangkan scored directly from a free kick, leaving Natchapon very little chance of saving.
The game continued flowing from end to end, with most of the real goal scoring chances falling Muangkan’s way. In fact it was fortunate Muangkan’s strikers were having a bad day, because on another day, they’d have probably gone in at half time with 3 or 4 goals in the bag. The first half ended 1 – 0.
The second half continued in much the same way. Hua Hin were unlucky not to snatch a draw, but Muangkan were unlucky not to score a lot more. It was just an entertaining game of end to end football, with Muangkan always the most likely to score.
We shouldn’t be too down losing by a single goal to a very good Muangkan. I’m sure Coach Sebastian will pick up the pieces, apply a few sticking plasters, and we’ll be fighting fit when we take on Pathum Thani next weekend.
