Pre-season 2018. Friendly match. Hua Hin City FC 4:2 Rydalmere FC

This was going to be a special test for Hua Hin City. Today’s visitors had travelled a long way, and were naturally a much larger team. They were also visiting as champions of their own division in Australia, and as somebody rightfully commented, they hadn't come all of this way just to lie on Hua Hin Beach. This would be a David and Goliath battle – football had to be the decider.

Today’s starting 11 had quite a few changes to the starting line-up 2 days ago, so Coach Sebastien continues to keep us guessing regarding our starting 11 when it counts on 10th February.

Both teams got off to an even start, but Hua Hin gradually took control, with Maraba proving himself a real menace in midfield. We took the lead about halfway through the first half with a very cool finish by Pratchaya.

10 minutes before half time, Rydalmere made 6 substitutions, and the game started to swing. Hua Hin conceded 2 very soft goals in the space of 5 minutes to go into the break a goal down.

Hua Hin came out for the 2nd half also having made some substitutions. The game seemed even again. Arnon went on a lovely run down the right, and cut into the penalty area where he was poleaxed. Three Yellow Shirts ran to his aid and there were some frantic hand signals indicating he’d been seriously injured, and would need to be replaced, before he got up and continued the game. Nicolas was cool as a cucumber as he stood up to convert the resultant penalty. 2 – 2, game on.

It wasn’t long after that Hua Hin re-established the advantage when Nicolas broke through to score his 2nd, and make the score 3 – 2.

Tossapon put the game beyond Rydalmere’s grasp when he grabbed a 4th.

One sad moment, in an otherwise entertaining game was when Panudach picked up what looked like a serious injury. A tell-tale sign that a footballer is really injured is not rolling around the pitch feigning injury (that would hurt too much), but lying perfectly still. Poor Panudach was not moving at all. It looked like an arm injury, and we wish him a speedy recovery.

This was a good game of football, against a team of champions, who would not be used to losing.

#2018 #Friendly #Preseason