New Delhi: India were denied an injury time penalty as they went down fighting to Thailand 1-2 in their second international football friendly match here on Wednesday.
The home side dominated the match for most part but some defensive lapses and lack of finishing put paid to their hopes of taking revenge of the 0-1 loss to the same opponent in Bangkok on Saturday.
They were also denied a penalty by Indian referee Pratap Singh in injury time when regular captain Bhaichung Bhutia, who replaced an unimpressive Mohammad Rafi in the 71st minute, was clearly brought down by a Thai defender.
The referee blew the whistle but he chose to give a free-kick from just outside the box and India failed to score from the set piece. An enraged Bhaichung virtually dragged the referee and remonstrated to the assistant referee for which he was shown the yellow card.
Bhaichung, who lifted the Indian attack to several notches up after his entry with some fine attempts, also made known his displeasure to the match officials even after the game, which is a part of India's build-up to AFC Asian Cup in Qatar in January.
For Thailand, who fielded a mix of senior and Under-23 players, Winothai Teerathep and Keawsombat Keerati scored in the 48th and 65th minutes respectively while N P Pradeep found the target for India in the 60th minute at Ambedkar Stadium which saw heavy downpour just before the match.
Bob Houghton's boys made use of slow build-ups to attack and had more possession inside the opposition half but the quick attacks through short passes by the Thais created problems for the Indian back four of Gouramangi Singh, Anwar Ali, Mahesh Gawli and Surkumar Singh.
The keenly contested match was played under floodlights with most part under incessant drizzle.
The Thais, who have come here with five senior players as they are a building a side for the November Asian Games, made the initial thrust and striker Winothai Teerathep got a fine chance in the second minute of the match itself but his right footer from the top of the box went straight to Indian goalkeeper Subrata Paul.
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