Buriram break away from chasing pack
Prolific Brazilian Diogo Luis Santo struck twice last night to assure defending champions Buriram United of another week at the top of Thai League 1 standings.
Buriram delighted their home crowd with a convincing 2-0 victory over Navy to reclaim sole possession of No.1 spot, three points ahead of Sukhothai and Port, who share second place with 13 points each.
Diogo first capitalised on a defensive blunder in the 20th minute and then added another to the score sheet shortly before half-time.
Meanwhile, struggling Chonburi and Ratchaburi succeeded in pulling themselves out of the relegation zone with victories last night.
Worachit Kanitsribampen’s second-half goal proved enough to give Chonburi a 1-0 victory away at Police Tero, who lost for the fourth time in six matches.
Chonburi are just one point outside the five-team relegation zone.
Ratchaburi snapped a three-match losing streak with a 3-0 home victory over high-flying Nakhon Ratchasima.
Ratchaburi, still without a full-time coach, raced to a 3-0 lead within 25 minutes of the match.
Chutipol Thongthae opened the scoring for the home team in the fourth minute and Rosimar Amancio followed it up with two goals. Ratchaburi have six points — the same as Ubon UMT United and Navy — but are one spot above the red zone because of better goal difference.
In the clash of two bottom sides, Air Force Central picked up their first point of the season with a 2-2 draw at home against Chainat.
Diouf Bireme and Bernard Doumbia scored for Chainat, while Leandro Assumpcao and Renan Marques were on target for Air Force.
In Saturday’s late game, Chiang Rai United’s dream of resurrecting their campaign suffered another setback as a 2-0 defeat to Suphanburi pushed them down to 10th place.
A defensive gaffe by Chiang Rai ended up in an own goal by Atit Daosawang in the 65th minute and Chananan Pombuppha added the second for Suphanburi in the late stages of the match.
Chiang Rai coach Alexandre Gama admitted that “Suphanburi deserved to win”.
“They were the better team,” he said. “We started well and had the control but we weren’t dangerous in attack.”