A full-house at PAT Stadium saw a newlook Port side roll over Pattaya United 3-0 in their Thai League 1 opener, as newcomers PT Prachuap shocked Police Tero 3-2 last night.
Dragan Boskovic, the top scorer for Bangkok United last season, darted into the box, rounded a defender before firing home a nifty curler for Port just before the break.
Port also owe a lot to goalkeeper Worawut Kaewpluk, who saved a spotkick from Pattaya’s Lee Won-Young shortly before the hour mark. Sergios Suarez and Bodin Phala sealed the fate of the match for Port with two more goals in the second half.
Before the match, Port chairwoman Nuanphan Lamsam told the fans at the venue that the management has set a high goal. “We learned some important lessons in the last season and this year our motto will be ‘Never Stop’.
“We have brought in many new players to prove that myself, coach Jadet Meelarp and other officials of the club will stop at nothing. We are trying to get a better result than our ninth-place finish last year.”
Police Tero went ahead twice in the match through goals from Aung Thu (eighth minute) and Marcos Vinicius (61st), but 10-man Prachuap rallied on both occasions with Amorn Thamnam (47th) and Jonatan Reis (64th) scoring.
Lonsana Doumbouya converted a 74th-minute penalty to make Prachuap the first promoted side to win a match in this year’s league.
Navy had a frustrating time at their home ground before they were able to break 10-man Ubon UMT United’s resistance with a last-gasp winner.
Ubon UMT were reduced to 10 men when Watchara Kriengrum picked up his second yellow card in the 37th minute.
Chunna Namkanisorn hit the mark shortly before the final whistle and Navy pocketed three points from their first league outing of the season.
Earlier on Saturday night, hosts Chainat Hornbill picked up a point on their return to the top flight after a year’s absence, holding Suphanburi to a goalless draw at Khao Plong Stadium.
