Thai League 4 West. Hua Hin City FC 0:1 Look E-San

5 Hua Hin City players have left the team in recent weeks; at least 3 of yesterday’s squad are due to leave during the mid-season break. More are still contemplating their future with the club. The team will have to move forward with what is left plus a few newbies. Today’s team was a sort of halfway house. Looking at the squad available, the biggest shock was Songkran would be starting on the bench.

The playing surface has looked much better. In places it looked more like Hua Hin Beach than a football stadium.

From the outset, it was clear it was going to be a scrappy match. Play was end to end, and the difference was going to be a couple of very skilful foreign players spearheading the Look E-San offensive. They were giving Hua Hin problem after problem throughout the match. In the first half, Look E-San had many scoring opportunities, as opposed to just one opportunity for Hua Hin. Hua Hin went in 1 goal down (a strike from a free kick on the edge of the penalty area) at the break, and on the back foot.

As seems to be the problem many times this season, better players don’t seem to appear on the field until partway through the match. In this case, Hua Hin had probably one of the league’s best defenders sat on the bench, while the on field players were struggling against a very capable Look E-San attack. At half time, Hua Hin introduced Songkran to stem the threat of an embarrassing large home defeat against one the league’s lessor teams. A team who have been leaking goals this season like a sieve.

The second half was much better for Hua Hin, who created chance after chance, but alas, had nobody capable of converting a goal. In one very strange incident, from where I was sat, it looked as though Arnon made a very athletic goal line clearance to prevent a Hua Hin equaliser. I’m looking forward to the highlights to see what really happened.

Overall, it was a very scrappy performance, but based on the 2nd half, a performance in which Hua Hin deserved at least a share of the points. It has to be worrying that at least 3 of the players on display will also be leaving the club during the mid-season break.

I think the team needs to be looking over their shoulders. Only 9 points from relegation with 12 matches still to play. I fear survival will be a battle.

#2018 #T4 #Match