Ang Thong, or the ‘Rice Warriors’ are still vying for a promotion slot to the Thai Premier League and were sitting mid-table on 48 points. Phuket meanwhile were in 16th with 40.
The Ronins started the game confidently and were the first to have a real good scoring opportunity 18 minutes into the game.
A quick counter-attack from midfielder Wasan Samansin saw him put a through-ball into the box, he ran on to collect the ball, but his close-range shot was blocked by a Warrior’s defender.
The hosts fought back and came very close to scoring at 29 minutes. A cross from the left wing by Kritsana Taiwan met their striker Alex Ruela who managed to get his head to the ball but Ronin’s keeper Piyawat Intarapim somehow managed to stop the ball going over the line.
Phuket had another chance six minutes before half-time but sadly Satawat Incharoen’s shot was once again blocked by a Warriors defender.
The Ronins started the second-half strongly again and a long-range shot from Wasan looked to be going in but was well saved by Warriors keeper Sirachat Preedabun.
However, just two minutes later the tables were turned. A poor clearance by the Phuket defence saw the ball fall Warriors’ Kritsana who made no mistake putting the ball past Piyawat and into the net.
The Ronins almost levelled the game when their top scorer Berlin Ndebi had a header on target which was once again well saved by Sirachat.
But it was in the final five minutes of the game when the real damage was done, and it was done by midfielder Tanat Wongsuparak who in minutes 85 and 94 secured victory for the hosts.
The result saw Phuket drop to 15th in the table while Ang Thong moved up one place to 9th.
Following the game, Thai media spoke to Phuket’s Coach Dang who said, “We had some good chance but we cannot make the goals happen. Now we’re coming to the end of the season and we’ve had a very tight schedule which has caused injuries to some of our key players.
“However we will fight on and do our best until the end of the season,” he said.
Phuket now only have three games left to avoid relegation to Division two, they next play at home against promotion chasers Nakornpatom FC on Saturday (Dec 5) with kick-ff set for 6:00pm at Surakul Stadium.
They then travel to Songkhla on Dec 9, and the final match will be against bottom of the table Trat FC at Surakul.
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