FC Phuket beat Pattani FC, 3-1

PHUKET: FC Phuket came three points closer to their dream of promotion with a strong 3-1 win on the road at Pattani yesterday.

The road win, the Southern Sea Kirin’s first this year, came as the second-place Satun United “Witch Doctors” were unable to work their magic against Surat Thani FC, going down 3-1 on the road.

Surat Thani FC and Satun United are now tied for second place with 27 points, seven points behind the top-of-the-table Sea Kirin.

FC Phuket also got some unexpected help from 12th-place Phang Nga FC, who pulled off a shock 1-0 win on the road at former league leaders Trang FC, who now fall to fourth place on 26 points.

FC Phuket took the field at Rainbow Stadium in Pattani with some confidence, having defeated the “Big Guns of Langkasuka” 3-0 at their previous meeting in Phuket on March 21.

Sarach Yooyen got the scoring underway early, taking advantage of some chaos in front of the goal to slip a shot past Pattani goalkeeper Artur Philips at 8 minutes.

Phuket FC stretched the lead to 2-0 at 28 minutes, after Nitiroj Sokuma took advantage of another defensive blunder by Pattani deep in their own end.

Any chance of a comeback was ended when Thawin Butrsombat hit the third goal at 82 minutes.

Pattani’s Dumaka got his team on the scoreboard by converting a free kick at 89 minutes, but it was too little too late for Pattani FC, who now sit in eighth place out of the 13 teams in Division 2 (South) of the Football Association of Thailand’s Regional League.

In other division matches played over the weekend:

Yala FC 1 – 1 Chomphon FC; Krabi FC 1 – Phattalung FC 2; Ranong FC 1 – 1 Nakhon Sri Thammarat FC.

FC Phuket’s next match will be at Surakul Stadium on Sunday, July 18, when they take on 10th-place Yala FC.

Start time is listed at 5pm, although the actual kickoffs in previous home games played this year have been closer to 6pm.

— Stephen Michael Fein