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3.2 -- It's turning out to be a crappy end to the year for Ewangin. He'll miss another month-plus now as he injured his foot today in practice.
3.7 vs. Persebangga(6-8-3, 6th) They play the role of spoilers well, and we'll have to try to avoid that here as even-money favorites. A 3-3 draw first time out as they equalized in injury time, and we're short up front with Oropka/Sutanto/Yogi as our trio and no backups, so the goal again will be to grab a quick lead and then go to 5 at the back and defend it.
Their top striker, Fajar Ariyanto has 14 goals in 17 matches -- we'll pay special attention to him.
6' -- Close freekick from Prayitno, a little wide but dangerous.
8' -- Yogi leads into the area, Sutanto and Oropka both in the vicinity but it's knocked out for a corner before we can get a look.
10' -- Off a side inbounds, [b]Yogi[b/] to Saputra to Oropka, his volley from about 13 yards is well placed upstairs, and we go in front early! 1-0!
17' -- Freekick for Yarangga driven wide. They had more than their share of possession early but we've done more with ours, and we're starting to control it better now.
35' -- A looping long try by Yogi almost drops in but stays over. Both sides are sloppy, we're close to getting some better chances but can't quite make that final play or two to get a clear look.
40' -- Nughro gets free for a moderate-range look and puts it perfectly in the left corner. Saragih was in position to block off most of the angle, but that was just a fine shot, and we're tied at 1.
54' -- We go a little more conservative as they're controlling the ball too much here at the start of the half.
62' -- We've turned it around now so I tell them to push forward more. We've only given up two shots all day ... but we need another goal to win this. They get an angled look for Ariyanto, good save by Ferminus who got his hands up just in time. Prayitno's header off the corner should have scored, but is off the bar. Another corner, Sutanto tries to clear but it squirts right to Nugroho for a gimme. His second goal, only two of the year, and now we're up against it trailing 1-2!
66' -- Here's a score I'm not sure I believe ... Persemalra has gone up 2-0 on Persibom!!
72' -- Blast for Oropka at the edge, Ibrahim is just close enough to tip it out. Who'd have thought he'd be our best offensive option today? Corner goes to [b]Muda[b/] at the far post, who volleys it a little too slowly and Ibrahim's foot gets to it ... I thought that was a goal and it should have been.
76' -- Oropka at the edge ... this time he finds a better option as Sutanto is open from 16 in front, and he blows it by on the left side!! There it is, we tie it up at 2-all!!
84' -- Herlan to Saragih, slides it over to Yogi but leads him a little too much and it's knocked out for a corner. If that ball had a hair less on it there was an open net ... Sutanto takes the kick to Patay, but they head it off the line.
92' -- Patay clears out a dangerous cross.
FT -- We had our chances to win this one, but at least managed to rally for another entertaining draw. A shocking 3-1 loss by Persibom gives us a two-point edge on them, and Perssin lost as well so they picked up no ground. We've really gotten fortunate lately with the way our rivals seem to be self-destructing.
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