TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Persela Lamongan finally got their first win in the Indonesian League 2 this season. They beat Persipa Pati with a score of 2-1 in a series of matches in the fifth week at the Surajaya Stadium, Lamongan, East Java, Thursday evening.
Fakhri Husaini’s team won the victory dramatically because they had fallen behind due to Tri Handoko’s goal for Persipa at the end of the first half.
Laskar Joko Tingkir managed to equalize five minutes into the second half through Akbar Hermawan’s header before working hard to turn things around.
Persela Lamongan’s struggle paid off when referee M. Fadli Setyati pointed to the spot after accusing Persipa captain Rachmat Latif of committing a handball violation in the forbidden box.
Zulham Zamrun stepped up to be the executioner and successfully scored the ball into Persipa’s goal to make Persela turn to take the advantage just a minute before the dispersal of normal time.
Zulham’s goal was practically the decisive victory for Persela and for the first time he could produce three full points compared to every time he scored in the opponent’s goal in the previous four matches.
The duel in Surajaya was the only Central Group 2 League 2 match played on Thursday, so practically not much has changed in the standings, which consist of 10 teams.
Persela temporarily pushed up to seventh position in the standings with a collection of five points. Despite having the same number of points as PSCS Cilacap, Persikab Bandung, and Persekat Tegal, Persela had to be willing to only rank seventh because they lost both head-to-head and overall goal difference from the three teams.
While Persipa is currently still in third place with six points from five matches, although they are in danger of being overtaken by at least PSCS, Persikab, and Persekat who only played on Friday (23 September).
PSPS and Kalteng Putra can’t win yet
The success of Persela in bagging the first win cannot be followed by two other teams who are chasing the same thing in two other groups, namely PSPS Riau in the West and Kalteng Putra in the East.
PSPS, who hosted the top West standings PSMS Medan at the Riau Main Stadium, Pekanbaru, had to admit the advantage of the visitors 3-4.
Askar Sorcerer actually took the lead through Rio Hardiawan’s goal in the 20th minute, but their goal was then strafed twice by Ahmad Ihwan and Fardan Harahap which made PSMS take a 3-1 lead at halftime.
Ahmad Ihwan completed his hat-trick seven minutes into the second half, and although PSPS struggled to come back from behind, their efforts were only enough to reduce the margin of defeat to 3-4 after Engelberd Sani and Alif Jalenai scored against PSMS.
These results solidified PSMS’ position at the top of the West Group standings with 13 points and a record of not losing from five appearances, while PSPS, which only had one point, was increasingly cemented as caretaker.
While in the East, the fate of Central Kalimantan Putra in the hunt for their first victory of the season ended tragically because they suffered a crushing 0-5 defeat to the host Persiba Balikpapan when they traveled to the Batakan Stadium.
The Central Kalimantan Putra goal was even scored four times by Persiba during the first half, once by Ahmad Misbah, twice by Freddy J. Isir, and once by Aji Kusuma.
Aji later also scored his second goal in this match to complete a 5-0 victory for Persiba over Kalteng Putra.
While Persiba temporarily rose to third place with a collection of seven points, Kalteng Putra was stuck at the bottom of the standings with only one point.
Persepal Babel United Win
In the East Group, another match of the fifth week was also played on Thursday, where Persipal Babel United managed to maintain their unbeaten record through PSBS Biak’s dramatic 2-1 win at Gawalise Stadium, Palu.
After Rifaldy’s lead was matched by Rudy Kurni for PSBS, the score remained equally strong until the end of normal time, until Afandi broke the deadlock in the third minute of added time taking advantage of a corner kick to lock Persipal’s victory.
Despite the win, Persipal is still just below the leader of the East standings, Persipura Jayapura, which has an advantage on goal difference even though both teams have both collected nine points. Persipura also has the opportunity to create a distance again because they only competed on Friday, September 23.
Back in the West Group, apart from PSPS’s tragic loss to PSMS, three other fifth-week matches in the group were also played throughout Thursday.
Results in Group West
Karo United managed to steal the full three points from Si Jalak Harupat Stadium, Bandung, thanks to a narrow 1-0 win over host PSKC Cimahi.
Sriwijaya FC managed to get back to winning ways after overcoming the 2-0 resistance from Persiraja Banda Aceh at Athletic Field 1 Jakabaring, Palembang.
Meanwhile, Semen Padang held a five-goal party without reply against Perserang Serang to pocket a landslide victory 5-0 while registering themselves as the most fertile team so far in all of Liga 2 with a score of 11 goals from four matches.
Another match in the East Group between Deltras Sidoarjo and North Sulawesi United was originally scheduled for this Thursday. However, the match had to be postponed because the Delta Sidoarjo Stadium had not yet been renovated following the anger of supporters of the Indonesian League 1 club Persebaya Surabaya last week.
Next up: Recap Results, Schedule and League 2 standings
