Five-time champions Thailand were made to work hard for the points as they saw off a gallant Timor-Leste outfit to collect a 2-0 win in the opening match of the 2020 AFF Suzuki Cup.

Despite having an overwhelming advantage in terms of both possession and chances it took Thailand until the second half to finally find the opener with substitute Pathompon Charoenrattanapirom firing home from close range before an own goal from Timorese defender Armindo Correia rounded out the scoring in the 81st minute.

New Thailand coach, Alexandre Polking, was pleased with banking maximum points in his first match in charge of the side but knows that there’s room for improvement.

“We are happy for the three points because the first match is always difficult and Timor-Leste made things hard for us.

“We knew that they would stay deep and defend in a low block and as the second half starts and it’s still 0-0 then you start to get a little bit anxious but in the end we’re happy we got the goals that we needed and take the three points.

“I remember that my father once told me to not be unhappy when you win a game no matter how you won it.”

A very tight opening half saw Thailand dominate possession but struggle to create any meaningful chances against a Timorese side that were compact and determined in limiting the space for their more fancied rivals to play in.

The best chance of the opening period fell to the impressive Narubadin Weerawatnodom in the 14th minute as he found himself unmarked in the box following a corner from the right with his volleyed effort cannoning off the underside of the bar.

Six minutes later, Thai captain Teerasil Dangda lost his footing under pressure as he tried to get off a close-range shot before he had another pair of half chances with a headed effort in the 39th minute and then a volley that he lashed wide after smartly trapping a freekick from the right on his chest in the 41st minute as the teams went to the break with things still scoreless.

Clearly unhappy with what he’d seen in the opening 45, Polking made two halftime changes and it took barely six minutes for that to have an impact as one of the new arrivals, Pathompon, brought down a deep cross from the right from Narubadin, twisted and fired past Junildo Pereira in the Timor goal to make it 1-0 in the 51st minute.

That saw the contest open up as Timor forward Mouzinho found himself in a promising position to get off a shot on the hour only for a strong challenge from Manuel Bihr to snuff things out before defender turned attacker as Bihr pushed a header wide from the top of the six-yard box with a quarter of an hour to play.

Thailand made sure of the points in the 81st minute as another smart cross from the right from Narubadin was met by a swivelling Supachok Sarachat who saw his effort take a strong deflection off Armindo Correia, with the effort going down as an own goal.

Despite failing to pick up their first point at the AFF Suzuki Cup, Timor-Leste coach Fabio Maciel was delighted with the brave performance put in by his young side.

“We have an average age of just 20 in this team and it’s a special moment for the players to perform as they did against a side that will be one of the favourites to win the tournament.

“The players saw that we can play against good teams and play good football and that’s something that we can now build upon.”