Jamshedpur FC fell to their first defeat of the pre-season against a very good side, Pattaya United. The Thai opposition made the most of their chances to run away 3-0 victors.

Steve Coppell made a couple of changes to his starting lineup from our previous game, featuring Ashim Biswas, Mehtab Hossain, Shouvik Ghosh, Andre Bikey & Sairut Kima. Our experienced midfielder, Mehtab Hossain was given the responsibility of leading the team against Pattaya United.

Jamshedpur FC got off to a bright start getting into the attack straight away. It was Sameegh Doutie who was at the helm of the attack in the 4^th min, sending in a teasing cross into the Pattaya box for Farukh Chaudhary, who couldn’t made a good connection and the attack fizzled out.

Pattaya United slowly found their way into the game after early pressure from Jamshedpur FC, leading to successive corners, which was well dealt by Andre Bikey and Subrata Paul.

Mehtab and Souvik had a tough time in midfield dealing with the Pattaya attackers and ended up conceding couple of free-kicks. Pattaya United went close to finding the breakthrough in the 20^th min from a free-kick. The curled effort got past Subrata, but hits the crossbar on its way out.

The Pattaya United continued to pile the pressure on our defence, but our back-line stood tall to keep the persistent attacks at bay. In the 34^th min, our defence was caught napping on the counter by the Pattaya attackers, but Andre Bikey came to the rescue quickly tracking back to clear the danger.

A tight contest at the Kiarti Thanee Country Club was brought to a halt as the teams headed into the break with the scores locked at 0-0.

Steve Coppell decided to make 2 changes before the second-half with Trindade Goncalves and Sanjiban Ghosh replacing Mehtab and Subrata. Pattaya United got the second-half underway looking for the goal that would give them the lead.

Jamshedpur FC begun the second-half on a similar note like the first. This time Sameegh Dotuie went for goal from distance, but his curled effort was just inches away from finding the back of the net. Minutes later, Pattaya United went close to scoring from a lethal counter-attack, but Sanjiban Ghosh showed safe hands to keep the scores level.

With Pattaya piling the pressure on Jamshedpur’s defence, it was not long until they found the breakthrough. The hosts capitalized on an error by the Jamshedpur keeper to open the scoring. Sarawat was quick to react from the corner flicking the ball home to break the deadlock in the 55^th min.

The gaffer looking for an immediate response decided to make few changes, with Tiri, Bikash and Robin replacing Jerry, Shouvik and Doutie. The change in tactics began to reflect with Jamshedpur seeing more of the ball in midfield as we looked for an equalizer.

Farukh saw two good opportunities of getting his name on the scoresheet, but the youngster failed to make the most of it.

As we approached the final few minutes of the game, Jamshedpur FC decided to go all-out in search of that important equalizer, while Pattaya United opted to sit back and defend its lead. The move proved costly for Jamshedpur FC who ended conceding 2 goals in the span of two minutes.

Full-time at the Kiarti Thanee Country Club, with Jamshedpur FC going down 3-0 against Pattaya United to endure their first loss of the pre-season tour in Thailand.

Starting XI: Subrata; Kima, Bikey, Shouvik; Doutie, Mehtab, Souvik, Jerry; Ashim, Belfort, Farukh

Full Time:
Jamshedpur FC
0-3
Pattaya United (Sarawat 55’, Picha 89’ Preeiawit 90’)