Struggling Arema FC continued their revival underneath new head coach Widodo Cahyono Putro as the Singo Edan notched their third consecutive win with a hard-fought 1-0 win over fellow relegation-battlers Persikabo 1973 in a vital bottom-half six-pointer at the Sultan Agung Stadium on Friday.
The match itself was a fiercely-contested affair, however Arema appeared slightly more aggressive, controlling 53 percent of possession and managing to launch six total shots towards the opponent’s goal.
On the other hand, Persikabo seemed to struggle to break through the Singo Edan‘s defense. The Laskar Padjajaran could only muster one shot on target out of the nine that they produced throughout the game.
Arema’s goal itself came about after Charles Lokolingoy headed in a pass from Johan Alfarizi in the 48th minute. Despite Persikabo’s efforts to chase the deficit by substituting four players, they still failed to score an equalizer until the end of the match.
The result of the match pushed Arema up to 15th position in the Liga 1 Indonesia standings with 30 points and extended their positive winning streak to three consecutive games, having previously beaten RANS Nusantara and Persija Jakarta with 3-2 scorelines. However, the Singo Edan is only two points away from 16th placed Persita Tangerang, who has yet to play their Matchweek 27 game – albeit the Pendekar Cisadane are up against it as they will be facing league leaders Borneo FC Samarinda on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Persikabo remained in 17th place with 17 points. The outcome of the match further extended their negative streak of winless matches to nine consecutive games (6 losses, 3 draws). Persikabo has not tasted victory since defeating RANS Nusantara at the end of October last year.