Beetles take over top spot with Trat rout

Beetles take over top spot with Trat rout

Chiang Rai United's Akarawin Sawasdee (centre) clears the ball with a header.
Chiang Rai United's Akarawin Sawasdee (centre) clears the ball with a header.

Chiang Rai United rubbed salt into the fresh wound of defending champions Buriram United as they took over the Thai League 1 top spot on Sunday night.

The Beetles moved two points ahead of Buriram with a convincing 3-1 rout of visiting Trat.

Buriram were dealt a severe blow on Saturday night when they were beaten 3-1 by arch-rivals SCG Muang Thong United, restricting the Thunder Castle's haul to 48 points.

Chiang Rai went ahead with a 41st-minute strike from Phitiwat Sukjitthammakul which was cancelled out by prolific Trat forward Lonsana Doumbouya half an hour later.

However, the Beetles were not to be denied in front of their home crowd and late goals from Piyaphol Panishakul and Akarawin Sawasdee gave them a 3-1 victory.

In another match, PTT Rayong edged 10-man Suphanburi 2-0 at home thanks to goals by Dennis Murillo at the hour mark and Ariel Rodriguez in the dying moments.

Earlier, True Bangkok United squandered a first-half lead to allow hosts Samut Prakan City pull off a 1-1 draw in Saturday night's late game.

Meanwhile, Buriram United coach Bozidar Bandovic rated his team's performance in a stinging 3-1 loss to Muang Thong United on Saturday night as "shameful".

"I have never used the word sorry before, but today I want to apologise to the team fans," said a visibly angry Bandovic after Buriram's first loss to the Kirins in more than two years.

"It is not that we lost the match. What disturbs me the most is the manner in which we lost.

"It was a shameful performance by the team. We could have never beaten them by playing like that. Muang Thong deserved to win the match."

Muang Thong United coach Alexandre Gama, who coach Buriram for many years before parting ways in 2016, was happy with the Kirins show.

"We controlled the game very well throughout the match," he said.

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