It was a very wet day in Phuket following continuous raining throughout the weekend, leaving many speculating whether the match would be postponed. However, the rain had settled down by kick off, and players fielded on the waterlogged pitch, as some 600 fans watched on.
Prachuap FC – the Killer Hornets – got off to a strong start scoring in just the fourth minute through Dutchman Bito Sidney, who had little trouble beating his marker on a run to goal to receive a lob pass from teammate Neto Osvaldo in the area, controlling the ball before sliding it past the Ronins' defender and a goal keeper Piyawat Inthaparim, into an open net.
Bito's superior speed, balance and ball handling would prove troublesome for Phuket defenders throughout.
The Ronins fought back and realized a few chances through Berlin and Lopez.
At the 15 minute marker, Berlin got a nice through ball inside the box but his low strike was blocked by the Hornets' final man, Ghanian keeper, Munze Ulrich.
And an open shot by Phuket's Brazilian winger Andres Lopes's from the left inside of the box was too high, going over the cross bar.
Prachuap was very close to double their lead on 31 minutes through a shot by Brazilian forward Neto who jumped on an evasive pass from teammate Vanich Jaisan. But his nicely curled shot to the far side only hit the post.
Two minutes later, however, the towering Dutchman Bito scored his and the match's second goal by curling the ball from almost the same spot that Neto had just attempted.
Only Bito's shot was perfectly weighted and aimed at the top right corner to give the visitors a 2-0 lead going into the locker rooms at half time.
The Hornets enjoyed a fantastic restart in the second half highlighted by Bito scoring his hat-trick, capitalizing on Phuket defensive confusion that resulted in a deflection directly to the deadly domain of Beto's boots.
With nothing to lose, Phuket tried very hard to get back into the game. The Ronins missed another close chance on 58 mins when Andres Lopes took a free kick from 25 yards out which was just an inch wide.
The last good chance for the hosts came on 82 minutes by their captain Yusuke Sato, controlling the ball down nicely in the box before seeing his subsequent follow-up strike fly over the bar.
But Phuket were not able to tarnish Munze's clean sheet as the final whistle sealed the scoreline after four minutes of injury time.
To no objections, Bito was named Man of the Match.
The result of both side's 28th of 38 league matches sees Phuket drop into 18th of 20 teams, still with 28 points while Prajuab has moved into 7th place with 42 points.
Phuket FC Coach Songyos Klinsrisuk commented, “We conceded the goals too fast and too easy at the beginning of both halves. Other than that, our game wasn't too bad but it was good finishing that was lacking. We threw away so many good chances.”
Of their last 7 matches, Phuket FC have lost six and drawn 1, their last win being on August 1 against Sukhothai.
The Ronins will break for a few weeks, set to resume action on the road to Krabi FC on Sunday, October 18.