A last minute goal from Sergio Silva was the ultimate decider between Arema FC and PSIS Semarang, with the former coming back from behind to beat the latter 2-1 at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in Saturday’s Liga 1 Indonesia action.
Touted as this season’s title favorites thanks to the investments that they’ve made to their squad, Saturday’s clash at the Kanjuruhan was Arema’s third meeting with PSIS in the space of a month. The Singo Edan had seen off the Mahesa Jenar 4-1 on aggregate in the 2022 Piala Presiden semifinals earlier in July.
After a goalless 75 minutes of football that saw both sides creating chances after chances, PSIS managed to silence the Kanjuruhan after Taisei Marukawa made his way through the Arema defense and beat Adilson Maringa in the Singo Edan goal with a powerful low drive.
Four minutes afterwards Arema managed to drew themselves level, after a skirmish in front of Rey Redondo’s goal led to Ilham Udin Armaiyn blasting home from close range.
Disaster then struck for PSIS in the fifth minute of injury time as Arema managed to successfully turn things around, as an Arema corner led to Silva to clinch all three points for the home side with virtually the last kick of the game.
The win was a good response that Arema head coach Eduardo Almeida needed from his charges, with the Singo Edan having limped to a 3-0 defeat away at Borneo Samarinda in their season opener only a week before.
Speaking about Borneo, the Pesut Etam dropped the first Papadaan Derby of the season after losing 3-1 away at PS Barito Putera. Ahmad Nur Hardianto managed to score his third goal in two games after scoring a 38th minute equalizer in response to Rafael Silva’s 27th minute opener, only for Barito’s other Brazilian imports in Renan Alves and Rafinha to score in the second half to help the Laskar Antasari bounce back from their chastening 8-0 loss away at Madura United.
The Laskar Sapeh Kerrab managed to establish themselves as this season’s early pacesetters on Saturday after they’ve managed to recover from going 1-0 down to win 3-1 away at Persib Bandung. David da Silva gave Persib the lead in the first half only for goals from Lulinha, Pedro Henrique, and Jaja to clinch victory for Fabio Lefundes’ Madura United side, who maintained their position in the league summit thanks to the win.