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11.16 @ Persemalra(0-1-4) Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Major injury problems coupled with the fact that some of their best stars last year were loanees that they haven't gotten back. Still, it's shocking to see what was the best team in First Division most of the year go winless to start the year. Our goal is that we don't become their first victim.
The fact that we appear to be going in opposite directions does not keep us from being slight underdogs. Of course, we did lose convincingly both meetings last year. The expert on the day opinions are for us to win due to their injury issues and bad form.
Ferminus is back in goal.
2' -- A long shot by Saputra is well off target, and we're underway.
3' -- Ewangin finds Saragih angling in from the right, missed badly wide to the short side.
8' -- Sutanto from Ewangin on the left, same result. Misses high.
14' -- Saragih finds Ewangin in the box, and he has time to make sure his aim is true. 1-0, we take the early lead. It deflected off a defender sliding for a desperation stop, but went in anyway. Impressive effort though.
He almost scored again a couple minutes later as a bad header gave him a good look, but just wide from the edge.
We switch to counter as their 5-wide midfield is controlling most of the possession anyway -- they just aren't doing anything with it.
We start settling for too many long shots, we can get those all day.
35' -- Yogi to Sutanto, tried to be careful on this one-on-one and Baskara blocked it away with a diving save. That one needed to have more on it, excellent opportunity missed.
37' -- Freekick by Yogi from right of the area, looks for Prasetyo on the far side but they get their first, Saputra is open for a header from about 12 yards and it's beautifully placed into the top corner of the net! He was too far out for anything but a near-perfect header, and puts it in for a 2-0 lead!!
HT -- A 2-0 lead, they control well with 56% possession but only attempt one 'shot' ... a weak header from the edge of the area at the end of the half, nowhere near the target. They can have the ball as much as they want, but have been able to do nothing to crack our defense.
I tell the team not to get complacent, which has mixed results.
46' -- A yellow for Yarangga who has been off his game all day. Ningmabin comes on. It's a pretty quiet game for a while except for a couple of low-percentage chances on our part.
57' -- A dangerous cross but Ferminus gets there first to punch it away. That's the first thing resembling a scoring chance we've allowed so far. Another cross a minute later, and Muda is called for a foul -- penalty!! They say he pushed Pabado in the box.
Waryono takes the kick and converts, our lead is down to 2-1. Still lots of time left ...
71' -- A weak shot from the edge and Ferminus gets to it, but we're getting a whole lot of nothing going for quite a while here and just trying to hang on.
73' -- Guess somebody heard me. Bizarre play, a bobbled cross and it comes down in a crowd in the box. Sutanto has a shot at it but they knock it away, then Yogi gets to it and taps it in. 3-1, and we restore the 2-goal edge.
75' -- Bayhaqi on for Yogi. Fresh legs. A freekick by Herlan is beautifully placed and bends in a bit ... but not quite enough. Into the side. Thing of beauty anyway, too bad he didn't get a goal for it.
80' -- Ewangin goes down just outside the area, and he's done for the day. Oropka will take his place.
84' -- Good passing sets up Herlan straight on -- he's having a heck of a 'just missed' day and here's another one.
86' -- They get a good freekick opportunity, but a routine save for Ferminus.
FT-- That's it, we extend Persemalra's misery with a strong 3-1 win. Saputra, Ewangin, Saragih, and Yogi all made major contributions to this one.
Our veteran striker is no worse for the wear after the match other than being extremely tired ... a hard collision at the end of a long day for a 38-year-old can do that. Hopefully he'll be able to recover in time for our game next weekend.
Our start to this season has now set a new club record -- six matches unbeaten. And counting, we hope. Yogi has a half-dozen goals, one per game so far on average, and the press is starting to take notice of his efforts.
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