Moyes stays positive despite first defeat in charge of United

The fact the Manchester club arrived in the country without several first-choice players including Dutch hitman Robin Van Persie, while Moyes’ options were further reduced by England striker Wayne Rooney’s injury-enforced return home represented mitigating circumstances for the unexpected outcome.

Former Everton boss Moyes, though, admitted it was not a “brilliant result” as he made his bow as United manager after succeeding the retired fellow Scot Sir Alex Ferguson at the end of last season. Even that, he did not think it was a bad sign for his tenure at Old Trafford.

“I hope not! If I’m going to lose any games I’m happy to lose these ones. It's pre-season,” Moyes told the post-game conference at the venue before leaving to catch a flight to Australia last night.

“We missed a couple of chances at the end which may well have got us something out of the game but the important thing is we got a few of the players through 90 minutes. It was a really good fitness workout – anyone who was watching [in the stadium] tonight will tell you that, as it was very warm. So I was pleased with that.

“Overall I thought the fitness of the players was good and I'll take that as a positive."

The Scot handed youngster Adnan Januzaj his first outing for the senior side against the collection of players from the Thai Premier League clubs that Singha supported and believed his performance was a rare plus point for the visiting side.

"I thought Adnan played well tonight and was a plus for us. He was the pick of the group. It’s always good when you give a young player a chance and he shows up, which I thought he did tonight.”

Moyes was equally pleased with newcomer Wilfried Zaha, who joined United from Crystal Palace as the last signing made by Ferguson before his retirement, after his lively cameo role as the second half substitute.   

“Wilfried did well and gave us something a little different. We were short of forwards tonight – we didn’t have many options with Wayne being injured, Robin only meeting up with us later, Chicharito not here and Will Keane being injured. It just left us a little short of forward options tonight. But when Wilf came on he gave us a little bit and was certainly unlucky not to score with the chance he had.

"We’ll see how Wilfried does. We brought him here to give him a chance. It’s the first time I’ve worked with him, the first time I’ve really had the chance to see him up close, so he’ll certainly be part of the squad and we’ll see where we can fit him in."

The 50-year-old Moyes was gracious in defeat, saying the home side, who secured a memorable result courtesy of Teeratep Winothai’s 50th-minute strike, deserved to win a match, which was held to mark the 80th Anniversary of Boon Rawd Brewery.

“They’re very fast on counter attack. They did well. You have to give them the credit.”