Digging deep into its arsenal and refusing to get rattled, Thailand managed to scrounge out a 1-0 win over the Philippines last night but a clear message was sent: The RP booters are no longer pushovers in Southeast Asia.

Even Thailand coach Chanvit Phalajivin was all praises for the Philippine Team that has been considered the minnows of SEA football for a long time.

"The Philippines played very, very well. It has improved a lot but a win is still a win no matter what the score-line," he said.

The Thais actually survived the Philippines' relentless attacking in the final half because of Naril Taweekul's stellar goalkeeping and were buoyed by Jakkrit Bunkham's goal in the 36th minute.

Taweekul parried the headers of Ali Borromeo and Mark Villon off corner kicks in the 76th minute.

"We just have to move on but there will be no major adjustments on our part. Jelling was not a problem," RP coach Aris Caslib said in the post-match press conference at the Panaad Stadium.

Indeed, Caslib and the RP booters are leaving the loss behind them and will now focus on the next two tasks at hand, which is to win against Cambodia and Malaysia on Friday and Nov. 29, respectively.

The Philippines actually had the first scoring chance of the match in the 4th minute but Chad Gould's one-touch header from a James Younghusband free kick sailed inches over the bar.

From there, the Filipinos got more defensive-minded and allowed the Thais to attack before Caslib made a strategic change of sending in Emilio Caligdong for Andy Prochnow at halftime.

Caligdong, together with Negrense Arnie Pasinabo, sparked the RP attack in the second half. His runs from the left wing gave the Philippines a lot of opportunities to score and somehow took away the Thais wing play at the other end.

RP's 18-year-old striker Phil Younghusband had his best chance in the 43rd minute, heading Gould's cross but landed straight into the hands of Taweekul.

But the RP booters came out blazing after the break. And Phil Younghusband got more involved. His header off an Emilio Caligdong corner kick in the 47 th minute was cleared at the goal-line by Suree Sukha.

The San Carlos City-born Pasinabo, 19, who used to play for the University of St. La Salle, was a recipient of Phil's through ball 25 yards from goal but Naporn Phanrit was there to make the clean tackle for another RP corner kick. *CPT

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