(Prakan owner Khun Big and the Samut Prakan N Zone had plenty to celebrate after the last home game. Photo credit: Official Samut Prakan Facebook page) 

So what's happened since the last blog?

I returned to England for my annual family visit and missed two matches - the away trip to Suphanburi and a home game against Phrae.

We have a decent record at the Suphanburi Provincial Stadium, but had to settle for a point from a 1-1 draw, Fernando scoring his third goal of the season for Samut Prakan after Gustavo had given Suphanburi the lead five minutes earlier. Considering Suphanburi were above us in the league, it was a decent away point, but talking to fans who had travelled the two hours north, Samut Prakan were the better side and possibly deserved the win.

There was no debating the outcome at home to Phrae United though, with Prakan running out 3-0 winners in front of a pitiful crowd of just 402. Fernando grabbed a brace to push his goal tally to five for the season and young Kritsada, a second half substitute, scored a belter in the dying minutes.   

The victory moved Samut Prakan back into the top six, at least overnight.  

So to today's opponents DP Kanchanaburi. It's the first time the teams have met so how about some club background?

Dragon Pathumwan Kanchanaburi (to give them their full name) were promoted last season via the play offs after topping the third division west. They won 17 of their 22 matches in what was a memorable campaign. 

The club was formed as recently as 2017 as Singha Golden Bells FC, becoming DP Kanchanaburi in 2022. After a couple of seasons in the Thai amateur leagues, they were promoted to the third division before making another leap and gaining promotion to the second tier.

The club plays its home matches at the 13,000 capacity Kanchanaburi Provincial Stadium and are managed by Brazilian striker Douglas Rodrigues, who has been around the Thai league as both a player and manager for well over a decade.

So how has their season gone so far? 

Not too badly at all. The Fire Dragons are currently in 10th place, a couple of places and a couple of points below Samut Prakan. They have actually only played two home games at their provincial stadium this season and won them both - 2-0 and 5-2 victories against struggling Chainat and Kasetsart respectively. There was a very decent attendance of almost 2,000 for the Chainat game but that dropped by almost half for the visit of Kasetsart.  

DP Kanchanaburi's first home match was played at Ratchaburi's Solar Park due to their own stadium not being ready back in August. That one ended in a 1-0 win for Ayutthaya United. 

Who's banging in the goals?  

Brazilian Junior Batista has bagged five so far. The much-travelled 30-year old striker has had spells at clubs in South Korea, South Africa, Portugal and Nicaragua, but this is his first season in the Thai League. 

What's the travel plan?     

Kanchanaburi was always one of my go-to places when Mom and Dad (along with various friends) would come and visit me in Thailand, but I haven't been there for well over a decade now. I've heard that the town has changed a lot in recent times and shed much of its 'backpacker image', so we'll stay a few nights and find out for ourselves. Our plan is to drive up on Thursday and return on Sunday, the morning after the match. 

Journey and digs

Thanks to a relatively new road system in Kanchanaburi Province, the drive felt much easier than it did in the past. However, we took our time and stopped off for lunch at the gorgeous 'Coffee Please in the Garden', set in lush grounds on the banks of the river and an extensive menu at extremely reasonable prices. There's also a small collection of friendly exotic birds to fuss over. I'd safely say one of the best coffee shop / cafes I've ever been to. We loved it!

A mile or so further on from the coffee shop, we spotted a sign for the LHM Motorcycle Museum. I'm what you would describe as a casual motorcycle enthusiast at best but the collection was splendid and well worth half an hour of our time. (50 baht admission for Thais and 80 baht for foreigners) 

For mid-range accommodation, we opted for three nights at the Por Poshtel bang in the centre of town. The three-storey boutique hotel had only been open a month so the staff were brimming with enthusiasm and eager to please. Our windowless room was a little cluttered and on the small side but there was a shiny newness to everything. Just under 900 baht a night was probably the right price point (excluding breakfast)  

I couldn't believe that in all the times I had been to Kan, not once had I walked around the town centre and the old quarter, but we put that right on our first evening. I gained a fresh perspective and a whole new fondness for a town I've often dismissed as just 'somewhere on the tourist trail'. 

I wasn't quite so enamoured with the glass skywalk, a recently constructed attraction beside the river that draws locals and out-of-towners in droves. I always feel that these things only work if they're straddling some dramatic gorge and a river choc-full of man-eating fish. I just found it underwhelming and unnecessary. Why not spend the council cash on developing and improving the old town sections instead? 

Friday

With a whole day to kill before the match on Saturday, we found plenty to keep us occupied.

We always like to seek out the unusual on our Thai travels and what could be more unusual than an abandoned paper factory on the edge of town, one of the very first in Thailand, built in 1938. Talking to the friendly security guard, he told us that the property and land had recently been purchased by a Bangkok millionaire, who planned to donate it to the council, pay for the renovations, and turn it into a tourist attraction (presumably a working paper mill) Someone's got one hell of a job on their hands.

Realizing we weren't that far from Kanchanaburi's Provincial Stadium, we decided to stop by and see what awaited Samut Prakan in tomorrow's match. We couldn't have been more impressed. The stadium interior gleamed like a new pin and I was told later on social media that it had undergone an extensive upgrade a few years back. You don't see many stadiums in Thailand where the seating is almost totally covered. So at least there would be no need to fear Saturday's weather forecast for isolated thundershowers.

It was a 30-minute drive to the Ban Khao National Museum but well worth the effort. Not only was it a drive through gorgeous countryside with a mountainous backdrop but the museum itself had been completely modernised and upgraded within the past year. Focusing mainly on the province's early stone age population, you could learn a lot about how they lived and survived, and as with many of these wonderful provincial museums, we had the place virtually to ourselves.

Beginning to flag from Kanchanaburi's relentless heat, we drove back into town and lingered over an extremely late lunch at the Peter Rabbit themed Charlotte House Cafe. It's a very different Kanchanaburi these days, certainly away from the tired-looking tourist ghetto down by the river. 

It's Match Day!

The morning dawned grey and wet and by the look of things it had been raining heavily all night. We killed the morning and early afternoon in a couple of Kan's must-do coffee shops and walked part of the old town to take in some street art. After a few hours relaxation back at the hotel, we left for the stadium around 5pm. Early for a 7.00 pm kick off I know, but we were hungry and wanted to take advantage of Kanchanaburi's excellent pre-match food selection.

To the match itself

With ties in the two domestic cup competitions, as well as three league fixtures, coming up within the next couple of weeks, it's understandable that the manager would ring the changes. It all depends where his priorities lie I suppose. Several fringe players got the nod for this one including young defender Chakrit, making his first start of the season.  

Roared on by around 60-70 travelling fans, Samut Prakan enjoy a golden first twenty minutes of play, looking by far the superior team. Fernando almost makes it six goals for the season on 19 minutes with the game's first gilt-edged opportunity but sees his header brilliantly tipped over the bar by Chinnapong.  However the visitors only have to wait a couple more minutes to take a deserved lead, Arnont Phumsiri, starting only his third game, sweeping the ball home from a Neto assist. Minutes later, only a last ditch tackle prevents Arnont poaching a second. 

Against the run of play, Samut Prakan keeper Jirunpong gift-wraps an equaliser for the hosts as we approach the half hour mark, flapping at a harmless right wing cross and leaving Korean defender J, Park with an easy tap-in. It then almost becomes a double calamity as the nervy Jirunpong fumbles a straightforward save on to the underside of the crossbar.

Kanchanaburi's Brazilian forward Jardel Capistrano has an enviable goalscoring record at a number of Thai lower league clubs, and he grabs the lead for his side on the stroke of half time with a neat header. The goal caps an end-to-end thrilling first half.

Half-time: DP Kanchanaburi 2 Samut Prakan 1 

If the first period was memorable, the second half is the polar opposite, certainly for Samut Prakan fans. I'm struggling to recall a single decent attempt at goal. The home side have to wait until five minutes from time to add a third goal to the scoreline but it had been coming, Junior Batista bullies and brushes aside the Prakan defence before squaring to Athatcha to slot home.

Seven plus minutes of injury time turn ugly as Samut Prakan players and coaching staff show their frustration. Several yellow cards are brandished and the Samut Prakan general manager is clearly caught on camera as he kicks out at a Kanchanaburi player near the touchline. Tension gathers and emotions between the two sets of fans threaten to boil over at the final whistle. Thankfully the situation doesn't escalate. 

Full-time: DP Kanchanaburi 3 Samut Prakan 1

Watch the match highlights

Overall thoughts?

I'm not sure how a team can play so well for 20 minutes and then lose their way so dramatically for the remainder of the contest. It's not even like DP Kanchanaburi were that much better. However, it's yet another off-the-field incident that grabs the headlines and becomes the main talking point. This seems to be happening far too often at our club and there's little doubt that we are earning a reputation among Thai football followers as 'touchline bullies'. Once again, club owner Khun Big had to act swiftly and issue a public statement apologising to Kanchanaburi FC and condemning the actions of Samut Prakan staff. The guilty party has apparently been suspended from duty for several months.

We need to address this growing and rather unsavoury part of our club culture fast.    

Who's up next?

We turn our attention to the Revo League Cup as we travel to third division Fleet FC in Sattahip this coming Wednesday (25th October) at 3.00pm.

Samut Prakan fixtures 2023/2024