Ten-man Thailand hit three past Sri Lanka

In the first match, Lebanon outclassed Pakistan 8-1.

Thailand, who beat Sri Lanka 4-2 in Beirut last week, played much of the match one man down after having midfielder Anurak Srikerd sent off in the 41st minute after a challenge on Kasun Nadika.

The Chinese referee, Zhang Jian Jun, showed him the red card-a decision which prompted loud boos from the angry home crowd of around 15,000, some of whom threw water bottles.

After failing to hit the target with some long-range shots in the early stages, the Thais nearly scored when Sri Lanka goalkeeper Sandun Devinda failed to hold another long-range effort from Surachai Jirasirichote. Sakesan Pituratana pounced on the rebound but his shot flew wide.

The hosts finally scored the opening goal in the 36th minute when Sakesan successfully pounced on another rebound after Anurak's shot from 30 metres hit the bar.

But in the last minute of the first half, Sakesan was booked and as it was his second yellow of the qualifying tournament, he will miss tomorrow's match against Pakistan.

Five minutes after the restart, a Dusit Chalermsang free-kick was too hot for Devinda to hold and the lurking Kiatisak rushed in to score Thailand's second goal.

Nine minutes later, Kiatisak added another goal when he took advantage of a defender's mistake to break through the Sri Lankan defence to score from 18 metres.

Thai head coach Peter Withe said: "Sri Lanka played very well. We should have scored many goals against them but when we were down to 10 men our tactics had to change.