Trinidad and Tobago’s national footballers turned a bright start into a heartbreaking finish in Bangkok on Saturday evening as they let up three second half goals to go down 3-2 to Thailand at the Supachalasai Stadium.
Utility player Anthony Rougier put T&T ahead with a well taken header on the left far post from a pinpoint Arnold Dwarika right side cross following a well orchestrated play with Brent Rahim and Glasgow involved.
The goal was an obvious lift to T&T and they pushed on to dominate against the homeside which were playing in front some 3,000 fans who were clapping and cheering along to some entertaining music from the visiting Angostura Woodbrook Playboys Orchestra.
On 30 minutes, China-based striker Gary Glasgow who along with his fellow club teammate Dwarika produced their best performance for the country in some time, scored the goal of the match.
He met a neat flick on header on the break by Jason Scotland and moved into the left side of the box before stopping and picking his spot, sending a right footer into the top right corner of the box past a stranded Panuwat Tangnurat in goal.
T&T had numerous opportunities to extend their lead with Dwarika, Scotland and Kenwyne Jones going close on separate occasions.
The defense of Keyeno Thomas, Derek King, Marlon Rojas and Jones did well to keep the Thais at bay and goalkeeper Duarance Williams also made a couple important stops to ensure T&T went into the half with a 2-0 cushion.
But the entire match was played in humid conditions and it appeared as though jet lag stepped into the T&T outfit, allowing the Thais to take control in the second half. Thailand went on the attack in the second half and reduced the deficit in the 60th minute.
After coming off the bench, Narongchai Vachiraban scored from a right-footed shot on the edge of the penalty area.
Six minutes later, Sutee Suksomkij scored the equalise after receiving the ball from Narongchai on the right flank.
Thailand continued to improve as the game wore on, and created a string of opportunities before Pichitpong Choeichiu, who was substituted for Datsakorn Thonglao, managed to rifle in a superb 15-metre shot past a diving Williams.
St Clair introduced Silvio Spann, Kerry Baptiste and Scott Sealy late in the match but there was little they could do except for a low Spann free kick which forced the ‘keeper into action.
Thailand also kept on pressing and were almost rewarded with a fourth goal late on against a T&T side which was playing without Stern John, Brent Sancho, Dennis Lawrence, Marvin Andrews and Clayton Ince.
St Clair was still optimistic despite the disappointing result and will hope to get back on the recovery road as the team leaves for Seoul on Sunday morning for next week’s friendly against the Koreans who defeated Bahrain 2-0 on Saturday as well.
“I was pleased with the performance in the first half but disappointed about the second. It seems that many of the guys were still feeling the effects of jet-lag and they became very leg weary as the game went on,” St Clair told TTFF Media.
“Unfortunately Tony Rougier had to come off as he was suffering from dizziness and that made things a bit more difficult. We couldn’t use young (Denzil) Theobald because he is down with a virus and one or two others were also affected so we were limited. In the first half the guys marking and tracking very well, moving the ball around and they scored two great goals. But as fatigue set in, we stopped moving and the spaces opened for them. Still, we should have kept them out despite the tiredness. Some may feel that we should avoid these long trips and play closer to home, but I think this is a very good experience especially for the younger ones. They have to learn to play under pressure and still perform even when they may be exhausted. That is the type of attitude that we will need for the World Cup games especially when you meet Mexico in Mexico. The next game against South Korea will be even tougher because they are a top 20 team. I welcome the challenge and the team can only benefit from such an experience,” St Clair ended.
“We played better than in the last two warm up matches. Sutee was a big help to Srayuth in the front line. I'm very happy with the result and their performance,” Thai head coach Chatchai Paholpat said after his team’s win.
T&T Starting Team:
Duarance Williams, Keyeno Thomas, Derek King, Kenwyne Jones, Marlon Rojas, Angus Eve (capt), Brent Rahim, Anthony Rougier, Arnold Dwarika, Jason Scotland, Gary Glasgow.