Diogo received a straight red moments after coming off the bench and putting Buriram ahead. Despite the fact that he was the victim of a thigh-high tackle, there can be no excuse for him lashing out at the perpetrator with the back of his hand.
His opponent dropped to the ground , clutching his face, when in fact Diogo made contact with his neck. However, the referee had no option but to send him off and he now misses the next three league games.
This is extremely worrying, as without Diogo Buriram are toothless up front, as was shown last night in a dire first half. Kaio and Moreira never looked like threatening, both constantly being guilty of poor first touches and bad decision making.
Even with ten men , Buriram poured forward but Moreira missed two close range chances that a good striker would have buried. He lacks conviction and does not appear to be able to anticipate possible openings before they occur.
The first-half was a total non-event with one incident in the sixteenth minute summing it up. Chitpanya sent a free-kick into the box and Moreira completely messed up his header but the ball fell straight to Kaio who completely mis-kicked.
Despite having the lion’s share of the possession, Buriram failed to trouble the Osotspa keeper even once, apart from giving him catching practise by putting high balls into the box.
Buriram brought on Diogo for Kaio for the second-half and he made an immediate impact in the forty-eighth minute . The Brazilian was fouled some thirty-five yards out and when Chitpanya delivered a lovely ball into the box, Diogo sent a perfect flicked-header into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.
Before the game could restart Nookoolkit was forced to leave the field with a foot injury, to be replaced by Jakkaphan. Immediately after, Diogo was given his marching orders .
The visitors then snatched a surprise equalizer in the fifty-fifth minute when both Tunez and Chitipat allowed Sompong to collect a through ball and run unchallenged into the box before drilling a shot past the helpless Siwarak. A familiar story.
Buriram responded well and despite their numerical disadvantage attacked at will. Sieghart sent over a dangerous left-wing cross in the fifty-eighth minute but there was no-one to get on the end of it.
Narubadin came on for a subdued Anon in the sixty-first minute as Buriram continued to attack down both flanks.
They had a great chance to take the lead in the seventy-seventh minute when Jakkaphan sent a free-kick from the right to the far post. Tunez laid the ball back for the unmarked Chitipat to hit his shot into the side-netting from twelve yards.
They had an even better one three minutes later when a low cross from the right found Moreira unmarked three yards out but he was slow to react and allowed the keeper to block his tame shot.
Buriram were just about playing with nine men now as Jakkaphan was clearly struggling but still they pressed forward. However, the “game plan” of sending high balls into the box was proving ineffective, as it did in the opening half.
Deep into stoppage time Buriram had one last chance when a low cross from the right was turned wide of the post by Moreira, with the goal gaping.
The only positive to take out of this game was the tremendous physical effort Buriram put into the second-half. They completely dominated despite being a man down and when the final whistle went, many of them fell to the ground exhausted.
There is no point examining this game too deeply. However, the fact is that Buriram have played two of the bottom three in the last two games and come away with two points. That says it all.
Next game is the first-leg of the League Cup semi-final against Songklah United on Wednesday August 17 at the I-Mobile Stadium 6pm.