Persik Kediri captain Arthur Irawan scored a penalty as the Macan Putih marched their way to their eighth consecutive win, seeing off hosts Dewa United 3-1 at the Indomilk Arena on Thursday night’s Liga 1 Indonesia match.
Acting as hosts in this rescheduled match, Dewa United threatened Kurniawan Kartika Ajie in the Persik goal as early as the 9th minute, when an Egy Maulana Vikri free-kick went straight into former Arema FC goalkeeper Ajie’s safe hands.
Two minutes later it was Majed Osman’s turn to carve out a chance for the hosts, only for the Lebanese’s long-ranged shot to strike the crossbar.
In the 16th minute, a foul from Risto Mitrevski on Renan Silva within the area left the referee with no choice but to award Persik a penalty. Club captain Arthur, nicknamed “King Arthur” by the Indonesian football fraternity, was entrusted with taking the spot kick, with the former Espanyol player successfully sending Muhammad Natshir the wrong way to give Persik the lead.
Osman then drew things level for Dewa United in the 29th minute, beating Ajie with a short-ranged finish.
With the first half ending in a 1-1 stalemate, Persik took the lead once again four minutes into the second half. Flavio Silva managed to beat the Dewa United offside trap, before the Portuguese danger man found himself in a one-on-one situation with Natshir – a duel that he won quie convincingly.
Flavio then sealed Persik’s win in the 80th minute, heading in a Krisna Bayu Otto pass into Natshir’s goal to secure all three points for the Macan Putih.
The 3-1 win was Persik’s eighth consecutive victory, nearly matching league leaders PSM Makassar’s nine game winning streak from late January to mid-March. A win against Persikabo 1973 in April 7th would match Persik’s winning run with the Juku Eja‘s, further cementing the Macan Putih in the league’s mid-table while opening the possibility of breaking into the top half – an incredible feat considering that Persik were dead last in the league for a good part of the current campaign.