SCG Muang Thong coach Totchtawan Sripan once again found out that staying on the top of the Thai League will not exactly be a stroll in the park as his team struggled to a 1-0 win over Army on Sunday night.
A late goal from young midfielder Chaiwat Buran rescued the league leaders who otherwise would have found themselves levelled with Bangkok United.
With the victory, Muang Thong United have prolonged their stay at No.1 spot with 42 points, two ahead of Bangkok United.
The two sides traded attacks during the entertaining match at Army Stadium and it was national team playmaker Chanathip Songkrasin who set up the 20-year-old Chaiwat to net the clincher in the 84th minute.
Totchtawan, who took over the reins of the Kirins at the start of this season, admitted after the match: "We have to continue to work harder as things are only getting tougher.
"We are very happy to have been able to pick up three points from this match as it wasn't an easy game. The Army players played very well and gave us a tough fight."
Meanwhile, the Thailand national team players received a bonus of 1.1 million baht each for qualifying for the 12-team final phase of Asia's qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup and winning the King's Cup.
The Football Association of Thailand's executive committee yesterday decided to equally distribute among the players a major chunk of 36,750,000 baht received from sponsors.
The committee also agreed to give 30 percent to coaches, meaning that head coach Kiatisak Senamuang and other staff coaches will share an amount of 11,025,000 baht.