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Sunday's results had ramifications on both the bottom and the top of the Thai League table, with crucial encounters concerning both those aspiring for greatness and attempting to beat the drop.
Chainat Hornbill were the first to kick of on Sunday, with a golden opportunity to climb into the top half when they took on bottom side Air Force United. Chainat's opponents had only collected five points from 21 games this season, and their woes were set to continue.
Goals from Santipap Ratniyorm and Florent Simana-Pongolle were enough to see the Hornbills claim all the points. The side widely tipped for relegation now found themselves as eighth in the table; a run that has seen their coach, Dennis Amato, pick up the manager of the month award.
Sukhothai traveled to Port sitting in the highest relegation place, needing to emulate Chainat and Pattaya by picking up all three points from one the toughest away fixtures of the season. Their kickoff was an hour after former Thai League champions Police Tero visited Chonburi, sitting only a single point above the drop zone.
Tero's day began perfectly, with talismanic French striker Michael N'Dri opening the scoring after just 12 minutes, putting new coach Totchtawan Sripan on course to win his first Thai League at the second time of asking.
However, the relegation-threatened side were unable to sustain their lead, as a brace from Matheus Alves and a goal from Gyeong-Min Kim in the second half condemned the visitors to a 3-1 defeat, left only to pray for a Port win that would keep their head above water.
However, Sukhothai's trip to the PAT Stadium got off to the best possible start, with Salvadorian striker Nelson Bonilla putting the Fire Bats ahead by netting his 16th league goal of the season.
Defending a lead against Port's excellent attack was always going to be troublesome, and it was set to get even tougher as goalkeeper Pairoj Eiammak received his marching orders, reducing the visitors' numbers to 10, with VAR intervening to correctly determine that contact was made outside the box.
The home side finally broke through in the 76th minute when right-back Sakdarin Mingsamorn turned the ball into his own net, once again condemning his side to the relegation zone.
Despite Bonilla putting the side ahead again in the 87th minute from the penalty spot, substitute goalkeeper Kittikun Jamsuwan spilt a speculative effort from Siwakorn Jakkuprasat in stoppage time to keep the Fire Bats in the drop zone for a second consecutive week.
Elsewhere, coach Pairoj Borwonwatanadilok failed to build on his winning start as Suphanburi boss, losing 2-1 to Chiang Rai after beating Siam Navy 3-1 last week.
