Singapore: Singapore's Lion City Sailors FC are out of contention for a place in the knockout stages of the ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup™ after they were held to a goalless draw by 10-man Buriram United in Group B on Thursday.
The result leaves Sailors with four points from four matches while Buriram are on seven points and will take on Kuala Lumpur City FC of Malaysia in the final set of fixtures in the group stage next month when the Thai side will fancy their chances of reaching the semi-finals.
It was an eventful first half at the Jalan Besar Stadium which began with Supachai Jaided testing Sailors goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud inside three minutes before Lennart Thy had an attempt at goal which was stopped by Chatchai Bootprom three minutes later.
The home side went agonisingly close to scoring in the 15th minute when Maxime Lestienne curled a left-foot effort from the edge of the box only to see it strike the crossbar on its way out.
The visiting Buriram had Supachai and Guilherme Bissoli go close before Osmar Loss’ side were reduced to 10 men in the 43rd minute.
The pivotal moment came when their centre-back Kenneth Dougall’s heavy touch allowed an opening for Lestienne. Dougall stopped the Sailors attacker with a late challenge earning a caution from the referee initially.
However, upon being sent to the pitchside monitor by the VAR, the match official rescinded the yellow card and produced a straight red to send off the former Australia international.
Sailors almost rubbed salt into Buriram’s wound when Toni Datkovic met the resulting free-kick from Lestienne with a header but Chatchai produced a good save to keep the score level at the interval.
The visitors brought on Malaysia defender Dion Cools for the second half and surprisingly, it was the 10-man Buriram who had the first real chance after the restart when Bissoli forced a diving save out of Sailors custodian Izwan in the 56th minute.
Frustration grew for Aleksandar Rankovic’s side as they failed to unlock the Buriram defence. Song Ui-young arrived unmarked inside the box to head a cross straight at Chatchai before he ballooned the follow-up effort with the goal at his mercy in the 77th minute.
Substitute Shawal Anuar also headed wide from close range for the hosts as their inability to find a breakthrough meant that their hopes of reaching the semi-finals vanished before their final group outing.
Sailors will now make the trip to Kaya FC-Iloilo on the final matchday on 6 February while Buriram welcome Kuala Lumpur City on the same day.
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