Michael Essien and Persib Bandung missed an opportunity to move top of Indonesia Liga 1 on Saturday night after being held to a goalless draw at Didier Zokora’s Semen Padang.
The two African footballers went head-to-head from early in the second half when Essien came off the bench for Persib. But neither the former Ghana legend nor Ivory Coast star was able to help his new team break the deadlock.
The point means that Persib stay in second, below leaders PSM, while Semen Padang are in 10th.
Zokora almost made the difference early in the second half when he floated over the perfect pass into the area, only for Vendry Mofu to shoot straight into the arms of the Persib goalkeeper.
Essien came off the bench eight minutes into the second half, but the former Chelsea favorite was unable to make much of an impact after scoring goals in two of his previous games.
Persib boss Djadjang Nurdjaman was satisfied with the one point.
“I think we should be happy with the result,” he said.
“It is always hard to get a point in Padang. Just look at our previous record here… we always find it difficult here.”
“It was a tough game, and it is positive that we kept a clean sheet, and we stay unbeaten this season after six games.”