AFC Champions League 2: Eastern hit for 7 by Ratchaburi in second-half rout
Hong Kong club crumble against Thailand opponents after goalless first half. Result sends them out of competition with two matches to play
Eastern suffered a second-half collapse on Wednesday that was as weak as it was astonishing, losing 7-0 to Ratchaburi and tumbling out of the AFC Champions League 2 with two games to play.
The Hongkongers had been marginally the better side during a drab opening 45 minutes at Mong Kok Stadium, and vastly improved from their meek 5-1 defeat by the same opponents a fortnight ago.
But Scott Allardice squeezed a 52nd-minute shot through the flimsy defences of goalkeeper Liu Fu-yuen to begin the most unexpected rout.
Shaken from their inertia, Ratchaburi added a second from Tana four minutes later. Tana toed beyond Liu for his second, and his side’s fourth goal inside the space of 20 minutes, either side of Denilson Junior capitalising on defensive disarray to beat Liu.
Brazilian Denilson pounced on a mix-up between Dani Almazan and the hapless Liu for his second, before substitute Ikhsan Fandi’s two late goals heaped on more embarrassment.
Eastern have lost all four matches and are poised to finish bottom of their group for the second straight season. Ratchaburi are level on six points with Nam Dinh, who lost 1-0 to runaway leaders Gamba Osaka.