Thailand coach Surachai Jaturapattarapong praised his players' spirited performance in their 2-1 defeat against Iran in Teheran in an Asian Cup qualifier on Tuesday.
Two second-half goals in three minutes from defender Jalal Hosseini and forward Reza Ghoochannejhad put the Iranians clear with 20 minutes left only for Teerasil Dangda to pull one back in the 80th minute.
The loss virtually ended Thailand's hopes of reaching the 2015 finals although they still have a mathematical chance of earning a ticket to Australia.
Thailand are still seeking their first point in Group B after three games. Iran lead the group with seven points ahead of Kuwait (five) and Lebanon (four points) who played out a 1-1 draw in Beirut.
The top two teams from each of the five qualifying groups, plus the only best third-placed side among all groups, advance to the 2015 Asian Cup.
"We came to Teheran to get at least one point to give us something to build on for our return match in Bangkok but things didn't proceed as we expected," said Surachai after Thailand's first competitive match under him.
"We played well and we have to use all our chances in the best way possible at home to try to get a point. But Iran are an Asian powerhouse who have already qualified for the 2014 World Cup and so the return match in Bangkok will also be difficult for us."
Thailand will meet Iran on Nov 15 at Rajamangala National Stadium.
Despite the win, Iran coach Carlos Queiroz was not pleased with the performance of his team who had not played an international match since a 1-0 win over South Korea in a World Cup qualifier in June.
"I think after four months without preparations and friendlies, it was natural to see our team have a dull performance in the first half when there was an obvious lack of organisation," said the former Portugal coach.
"However, our players gradually got better. For sure, it was not a good game for us. The result did not exactly show the effort we put into the game as we missed a couple of very good chances and Thailand's goal was an accident.
"But tonight's match should be regarded as a wake-up call for Iranian football as there is no football team in the world who can survive after staying four full months in the absolute wilderness."
RESULTS
Group A
At Singapore: Singapore 2 (Khairul Amri 61, Gabriel Quak 81) Syria 1 (Reja Rafe 88)
At Amman: Jordan 0 Oman 0
Group B
At Beirut: Lebanon 1 (Mohamed Ghaddar 50) Kuwait 1 (Yousef Nasser al-Salman 26)
At Teheran: Iran 2 (Jalal Hosseini 67, Reza Ghoochannejhad 70) Thailand 1 (Teerasil Dangda 80)
Group C
At Jakarta: Indonesia 1 (Boaz Solossa 68) China 1 (Wu Xi 36)
At Amman: Iraq 0 Saudi Arabia 2 (Osama Hawsawi, 78 Nasser Al Shamrani)
Group D
At Shah Alam: Malaysia 1 (Norshahrul Idlan Talaha 71) Bahrain 1 (Saleh Abdulla 45+1)
At Doha (played on Sunday): Qatar 6 (Khalfan Ibrahim 4, pen, 61, 76, Hassan al-Haydos 24, Sebastian Soria 70, Ali Hassan Afif 90) Yemen 0
Group E
At Hong Kong: Hong Kong 0 UAE 4 (Ali Ahmed Mabkhout 30, 55, 90, Walid Abbas 90+5)
At Tashkent: Uzbekistan 3 (Sardor Rashidov 69, Alexander Geynrikh 74, Igor Sergeev 90) Vietnam 1 (Nguyen Trong Hoang 77)
STANDINGS
Group B
!P!W!D!L!GF!GA!Pts!
Iran !3 !2! 1 !0 !8 !2! 7 !
Kuwait! 3 !1 !2 !0! 5 !3 ! 5 !
Lebanon !3! 1! 1! 1 !6 !8 ! 4 !
Thailand ! 3 ! 0 ! 0 ! 3 ! 4 ! 10 ! 0 !