Falling from Persib at home, Arema FC dropped to 11th position in the provisional standings of Liga 1

Arema FC vs Persib Bandung match in Malang. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

MALANG - Arema FC threw away the advantage they had when they were silenced by Persib Bandung with a score of 1-2 in the continuation of the Indonesian League 1 at the Kanjuruhan Stadium, Malang Regency, East Java, Sunday 11 September.

As reported by Antara, the hosts actually took the lead at half-time thanks to a goal scored by striker Dedik Setiawan right at the end of the first half.

However, the advantage was lost four minutes into the second half as goals from Beckham Putra and Persib turned things around to bring home the full three points thanks to David Da Silva's goal two minutes before the break of normal time.

The successive wins recorded by Persib in the last two matches brought the team made by Luis Milla up to an eighth position in the standings with a collection of 13 points.

Meanwhile, Arema who had to be willing to extend their winless record in three consecutive matches despite having just changed coaches by appointing Javier Roca, dropped to 11th place with 11 points.

The course of the match

The hosts are trying to take advantage of Aremania's heavy support by putting pressure on the Persib defense from the start, while the visitors occasionally resort to counter-attack schemes.

However, 15 minutes passed without a meaningful chance before Arema threatened Persib's goal with a header from defender Sergio Silva in a corner kick, which unfortunately still deviated from the target.

Persib threatened back through the action of Ciro Alves who had forced goalkeeper Teguh Amiruddin to save the host goal.

The deadlock was broken right at the last minute of normal time when Dedik managed to use Dendi Sanoso's pass and his left-footed shot managed to outwit goalkeeper Reky Rahayu to open Arema's 1-0 advantage.

Milla made an important change at half-time by sending in Beckham, who immediately showed his skills when the second half was just four minutes.

Beckam fired from the left side of the host defense and managed to beat Teguh to make it 1-1.

Javier Roca tried to respond to this situation by pulling out Jayus Hariono, replaced by Adam Alis, and the substitute posed a threat to Persib's goal in the 79th minute.

Unfortunately, the kick of the player numbered 18 was still able to be dammed by Reky.

Instead, it was Persib who got an important goal in the 88th minute when Da Silva was able to catch a long ball from Sergio Silva before tricking Teguh to break into the host's goal. Persib turned 2-1 ahead over Arema.

Not long ago, Arema's player Rizky Dwi fired a kick that was able to tear the Persib goal, but the goal was annulled by the field court because Rizky was in an offside position.

Until the long whistle was blown by referee Muhammad Khisfan, the position did not change. Victory for the visiting team Persib Bandung, 2-1.