Adventures in LoS Football

Was an interesting day out

Took a friend who just happens to be from Buriram to the game.

Got lost driving around some swamp area trying to find the ground.
Did though see some of the most bizarre potholes. It appears that the road had been built on reclaimed land in the swamp. Over time the road had deteriorated as such the lumps and craters in the road were as big as dining room tables.Ended up plowing the hire car through about 50 of them

Ended up finding the ground and the first thing I was confronted with was the sheer amount of Buriram fans in attendance. Parked up about 2kms from the ground and got some food at the street market set up outside the ground

Then went to ask where tickets are on sale only to be told that the game was sold out.
Well that was a bit of a surprise as Samut Prakhan have almost no support base

Needless to say my friend was quite distressed at this news as this was going to be their 1st Buriram game. Went and tried various locations around the ground to try and get some tickets without success.

Being that it was still nearly 2 hours before kick off I was pretty content I would easily scalp some
Needless to say this proved much harder than expected

Being the tickets only cost 120 baht each Approx $6 AUD I was surprised that my interest in buying tickets wasn't being met by sellers.
I started wandering around with a 1000 baht note waving it everywhere

Still didn't get any bites.

Stood back and noticed many also didn't have tickets and that not that many were selling. Tried getting involved in a few deals but me being a foreigner seemed to turn the locals off helping me

About 15 mins before Kick Off was resigned that my last gasp saloon would be to try and bribe one of the guys on the gate when suddenly a Thai guy approached us. He spoke with my friend and we were invited down the street

Down the street I was instructed to slip the 1000 baht note into his plastic bag

Once I done so he shook hands and I had the 2 tickets in

Hurriedly joined the queue and got stamped in and the ordeal was over. Went inside and got one of the few spots left in the away bay and left my friend there holding it whilst I went and got some beers

As for the game Samut Prakhan started the best and they have too shortish front players full of speed and tricks
Buriram though took the lead after 20 mins after a poor defensive header from Samut Prakhan was returned into the net and the away bay went nuts

After 39 mins a Samut Prakhan player got a straight red card

Right on the stroke of HT Buriram made it 2-0 and the game was as good as done

Bit harsh on Samut Prakhan as they had carved up Buriram most of the night

Game was brought back to life a few mins into the 2nd half when the Buriram left back who had been poor all night was again caught out in behind and the Samut Prakhan striker buried it to make it 2-1

Buriram did start to make their extra man count and started to control play. Several chances to wrap it up were squandered before a Buriram attacker curled one into the far post from the edge of the box

Not long after a defensive **** up by the goal keeper who cleared a pass which was cut out by the Buriram striker who was left with a 1 on 1 with the keeper. He kept his composure and with a sleight of foot deceived the keeper enough to open enough space to slide it past easy to make it 4-1

After this the game sort of frittered away as both teams just conserved fuel as they both had midweek games coming up

After FT it was back outside to 7-11 for some beer and an experience getting stuck on the Bangkok Freeway system going the wrong way trying to find a U-turn bay in the dark

Not a bad night out for 1000 baht for 2 Tix

Bit over priced but I was sort of put in a spot to come up with some tickets