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1.3 @ Persibas(2-2-7, 11th) It's hard to keep a competent first eleven out there normal conditions: now we have four matches in 11 days thanks to the Indonesian Cup. This will get ugly even if we don't have more injuries. If we do ... well, it may be time to grab a few townies again.
But first things first. If we are going to climb into the top half, then we need to win matches like this against bottom-feeders. The first meeting was the infamous penalty opener to the season. With all our key attackers ready for this one, I'm expecting a different result. Persibas is second-to-last in Group D both in scoring and conceding.
We're 1-3 favorites though our pundit of the day picks a draw and says we both suck. I hit the revenge angle and half the team responds well, the rest(including the sulking Uropmabin) sit there with a dumb look on their faces. Patrick Adie is back but I don't expect much out of him since he just started training yesterday.
11' -- Uropmabin rolls a center for Adie and he puts one off the crossbar and in! First shot and we score off of it. 1-0
18' -- They pass around the edge of the area and we give them more space than we should be, then Ariyanto chips one into the right corner too high for Setia. What do we do after we score? That's right, we let them back in it. 1-1.
23' -- They get a shot from about the penalty spot off a third consecutive corner, thankfully it's right at Setia. I've got a bad feeling about this match already, we need a win and it's turning against us.
27' -- Arriyanto's open again from the same spot, wide left. 3-1 in shots at this point, not in our favor.
30' -- How utterly ridiculous. They cross it in and Arriyanto is wide open at the spot. We stand there around him and stare dumbly while he blasts a shot in the left side of the net.
2-1. I haven't seen us look this bad all year. What the heck is wrong today? I'm already preparing a royal ass-chewing for halftime.
34' -- A blast from Yogi doesn't even stay inside the box.
41' -- Arriyanto centers, Hari's in front in-between apparently comatose Fitriandi and Sutiono, and a blind cripple could have scored that header. 3-1.
47' -- A weak chip by Yogi sails well wide. Pathetic attempt.
HT -- Outshot 6-3, porous defense, lazy on the attack ... I haven't seen this kind of nonsense all season. I pull no punches and they at least responded properly to a rare screaming fit. I don't know how much good it'll do ...
46' -- Uropmabin had a bit too much adrenaline at least. 30-yard shot straight on, and it was still rising when it went over the goal, and when I say over I mean 15-20 feet over.
47' -- Adie goes down, hurt. Again. I need to find a way to make a stretcher part of his uniform.
48' -- Yogi finds Ewangin a bit outside of the area, and he blasts one short-side inside the left post! 3-2, and we're in this match again ... if we can manage to defend worth a crap.
57' -- Another looong blast by Uropmabin. Closer, but still high.
72' -- We're getting no chances as they are just defending and fouling at every opportunity. With countering not working at all, we go for broke and send everything we have at them. We've got to create something.
75' -- A bit of a break for Ewangin, but they pushed him a bit wide and his angled shot was into the side of the net.
86' -- Arriyanto is called for a foul in our area, he's carded but it's a bit too late for that to really matter.
88' -- Corner sent to the near post, too close and Fitriandi can't get here before their keeper grabs it.
91' -- Hari gets behind our overcommitted defense and adds the final insult.
FT -- We lose 4-2, and have now been beaten twice by Peribas. They've beaten everyone else in the group a combined total of once. If we played the whole match like the second half, we'd have been ok -- the first half was the worst football I've seen all year. There are no words for this debacle.
Ewangin's goal gives him a team-leading five, and he's the only one deserving of praise today. Fitriandi and Kasipmabin draw specific criticism, which they don't respond well to. I don't care.
Adie's latest injury is a bruised rib, probably a bit under two weeks for this one.
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