Laos U-23 stuns by 10-man Brunei in 26th SEA Games

Laos seem to find it difficult to play against teams with ten men and tonight, they were lucky not to concede a second loss in the competition when they held Brunei to a 2-2 draw at the Lebak Bulus Stadium.

On the first match day of Group B the Laotians, the 2009 semi-finalists failed to take advantage of Myanmar playing with ten men, when they succumbed to a 3-2 defeat.

And tonight, Brunei’s hopes of picking up their first win was stuttered as early as the 15^thminute when defender Reduan Petara was red carded by Indonesian referee Oki Putra for a foul on Laos captain Lamnao Singto.

And while Laos’ Ketsada might have missed the upright with the ensuing freekick, there was no stopping them from clinching the lead when Lamnao after cutting in from the left, unleashed a well-placed shot in the 18^th minute for the lead.

Laos then stepped up the pressure in search of the second goal but it was to be Brunei who found the back of the net when striker Adi Said, found the time and space for the equalizer.

The score at the end of the first half was 1-1.

It was Brunei who started brighter after the restart and in the 56^th minute, they put their noses in front for the first time in the game – with Adi again on top of his game to punish some hesitant Laos defence.

Certainly, Brunei were not expecting such a score line when they were playing with ten men but not too long afterwards, the change for the nippy Manolom would change the pace and also the outcome of the game.

Ten minutes to the end, Manolom poked in a mad scramble inside the Brunei box when keeper Awangku Omar Sallehudin came off his line.

Next match, Laos will meet Philippines on the 11/11/2011, starts from 16:00 Live from Internet !