Bangkok: Thailand striker Adisak Kraisorn is putting thoughts of an individual scoring record to one side as he aims to help Thailand into the final of the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup final with a semi-final victory over Malaysia on Wednesday.

Adisak failed to find the net in the goalless first leg in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, having scored eight times in the group stage. He remains two goals short of Singapore striker Noh Alam Shah’s record of 10 goals in one tournament in 2007, but is focused on silverware rather than making his own history.

“I have only become aware of these statistics through the media telling me,” said Adisak. “Of course, I want to score more goals and it would be a bonus to score more than 10 and break the record. But winning the competition is much more important.”

The 27-year-old admits that Thailand were fortunate to stay level after being second best for much of the first leg in the Bukit Jalil Stadium but hopes the fans in the Rajamangala Stadium can bring out the best in the hosts.

“I expect it will be an enjoyable game,” said Adisak. “In the first match in Malaysia, we were lucky not to concede any goals but I hope that tomorrow the fans will come to the stadium and cheer us to victory.

“First, we need to get on the scoresheet and we will take it from there. We will try to score as many as possible and I will do my best to find the net.” 

Adisak was part of the Thailand team that beat Malaysia in the 2014 final but he missed out through injury in 2016. The striker has endured more injury agony this year but a win in this competition would end a testing period on a high. 

“It has been a very difficult year as I was injured for about eight months,” he said. “I had to try and fight and compete with other players to win my place back in the side. It was a great start to the tournament for me and I hope to continue to improve my form.”