The co-hosts dominated the encounter at the Rajamangala stadium in Bangkok but it was the introduction of substitutes Pipat Thonkanya and Teeratep Winothai that proved inspirational.

Thankanya scored in the 70th and 78th minutes while Winothai was the provider for both to send Thailand to the top of Group A with four points.

"This is an important turning point in changing the attitude of the Thai people and make them want to cheer the Thailand team," Chanvit said.

"Today we won our first game in the Asian Cup so we have gained confidence in the Thailand players for the Thai people.

"Since we have never qualified for the second round we hope we now can do so and today is only the beginning of the next step."

After performing so well against Australia in their opening game on Sunday, Oman struggled to match their South East Asia counterparts for much of the encounter.

However, it looked as though they might have held on for another draw until the introduction of Thankanya and Winothai.

But Chanvit refused to divulge whether the duo would start in the final group game against Australia.

"Both of them did a very good job," the 51-year-old added. "Whether they will start the next game or not depends on what tactic we use.

"We cannot talk about it right now because if our tactics are known to our opponent then it will not be successful.

"Pipat was in my thoughts for a start but a few days ago he suffered a minor injury to his ankle and I was concerned it might lose his confidence a little bit.

"It was a very tough game today as both teams needed three points. As you can all see it is a very technical game because to play too fast would be no good while to play too slow would also be no good.

"We have four points and we have a great chance to progress to the second round."

Oman coach Gabriel Calderon has targeted the game against Iraq as a must-win game if they are to progress to the next stage for the first time in their history.

"I said that we have three finals. We drew the first, lost the second and now we must win the third," he said.

"The players had a three week holiday and have only been training for a month so we are not at a good level physically.

"But I am proud of the Oman players."