It was a match that really showed Thailand's threatening pace and dribbling, and exposed Singapore's defensive frailities.
But it is hard to swallow considering how Singapore sort of lagged by 45 minutes.
In the first half, Singapore was pretty horrendous, creating barely any half-chances at all, and allowing Thailand to shoot with 4 good chances. It was really lucky that we remained only a goal down going into the break. The conceded goal is a penalty.
After the interval, Singapore broke out of their shell and started to find their more fluent style. The introduction of the speedy and tricky Khairul Amri is a good decision, and his passing and dribbling and hunger was for all to see.
Yet, the defence let the team up with 2 goals for the Thai team, one with a rooted Baihakki looking on and not noticing the dash by Therdsak, whom Shaiful Esah followed but could not stop. Therdsak skilfully shot in a volley from close range.
Then it was a one-on-one with a through ball for Sutee to score his second.
Singapore needs a miracle to claw back, and the penalty was the chance to get things going. Mustafic Fahrudin did not disappoint, with his powerful penalty kick into the top right hand corner of the net.
Despite having some good chances when the score was at 0-1, Singapore did not put in those chances and it came back to haunt them. It includes John Wilkinson passing a ball too hard and fast to Duric, instead of shooting, leading to the ball moving out to be cleared by the Thai defenders.
Some other chances include 2 free kicks, one from John Wilkinson and another from Shaiful Esah, both just scraping past the left post. Near the end, Duric was finally provided with a really good cross to his feet but he could not finish.
It summed up a disappointing night for the Lions. Yet, the 2nd half has provided faith that the Lions have the ability to go to Thailand and defeat them, as long as they can plug some gaps in defence and be clinical in their shooting.
We must beat Thailand come 18 November.
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