Ke Tiga Besar, PSIM Yogyakarta Kian Akrab Dengan Sultan Agung

PSIM Yogyakarta won its second victory at home after defeating Persik Kediri 2-1. (PSIM Yogyakarta)

BANTUL - PSIM Yogyakarta is getting closer to the Sultan Agung Stadium which became the home base when they played home games in the Super League. When returning to acting as the host when they hosted Persik Kediri, Friday, October 31, 2025 afternoon WIB, PSIM won 2-1 so that it could penetrate the top three standings.

PSIM was better when playing home games. Earlier at the beginning of the week, PSIM lost points more often when they hosted their opponents.

Psychological factors because PSIM has not been able to play at home at the Mandala Krida Stadium because it has not met the requirements to hold the League 1 match.

In the aftermath, PSIM had to flee to Bantul and borrow SSA while playing at home. This makes players have to adapt to the grass court.

On the other hand, PSIM seemed nervous when he was in the elite caste of the Indonesian league. Having not played in League 1 for a long time and this season, they finally managed to promote.

Unfortunately, Laskar Mataram immediately met a tough opponent at SSA. They host Arema FC and then defending champion Persib Bandung. Furthermore, Jean van Gastel's team met Borneo FC.

As a result, they recognized Borneo FC's 3-1 advantage. In the previous two matches against Arema and Persib, they drew 1-1.

Sr has reaped unsatisfactory results, PSIM shows a revival while playing in front of its own supporters by defeating Dewa United 2-0.

This positive trend continued when PSIM returned to act as host and beat Persik Kediri 2-1. However, Van Gastel complained a little about the slightly heavy field conditions which resulted in the ball slowing down.

"This makes players tired quickly. In addition, stadium lights actually disturb players. This makes the game a bit tough even though we were finally able to win," said Van Gastel.

According to the Dutch coach, the team's performance was increasing. They played well during the first half even though they couldn't score. However, their performance improved in the next round and managed to score two goals to win.

The success of winning these three points made PSIM move up to third place with 18 points. Six points adrift with Borneo FC who was ranked first. While the second position is Persija Jakarta which has 20 points. PSIM's achievements are beyond expectations. In fact, they are the only promotional team that can walk to the top.

In that match, PSIM and Persik actually both played openly. Persik was able to create a number of opportunities but nothing could be converted into goals. Likewise, PSIM still has difficulty breaking into the opponent's goal.

Entering the second half, PSIM's appearance was different and looked better. Evidently, they were finally able to break into Persik's goal through Nemin Haljeta when the game had only been running for four minutes.

In a position 1-0 behind, Persik is getting harder to get up after losing a player in 59 minutes. Henhen Herdiana's violation made him receive a yellow card and continued with a second yellow card followed by a red card.

The advantages of the number of players were used by PSIM to suppress the opponent's defense. Their efforts were not in vain because not long ago Jose Valente established the advantage of the host in the 61st minute. The score changed 2-0 for PSIM.

Persik refused to give up even though they played with 10 people. Even their attacks repeatedly threatened the PSIM defense until finally Ezra Walian reduced the lag in the 65th minute.

The score changed to 2-1. Even though PSIM was already ahead, they were wary because they also lost players. Ezequiel Vidal got a straight red card for the foul he committed in the 85th minute. Luckily, PSIM managed to maintain the advantage until the game was over.