A late goal from Jack Brown sealed all three points for Persita Tangerang as they edged out relegation rivals Arema FC 4-3 in a thrilling Liga 1 Indonesia Matchweek 29 classic at the Indomilk Arena on Wednesday night.
Arema kicked off this match impressively. Just five minutes into the game, the Singo Edan silenced the Indomilk Arena crowd with Johan Alfarizi’s opener, who capitalized on a free-kick from the right side of the field.
However, Persita then pressed Arema to defend, displaying more aggression in their quest to equalize.
But it was Arema who managed to steal another goal. In the 23rd minute, Charles Lokolingoy breached Persita’s defense with a shot from inside the penalty area, connecting with Dendi Santoso’s cross from the right wing to make it 2-0 to the Singo Edan.
Nevertheless, in the 25th minute, Persita finally found the back of the net. Ezequiel Vidal intercepted the ball from an opponent near the penalty box and unleashed a powerful shot from outside the penalty area that went into the top left corner of Julian Schwarzer’s goal.
Five minutes later and the Pendekar Cisdane managed to score their equalizer From a goal kick, the ball was chased by Ramiro Fergonzi. One player attempted to clear the ball but failed, allowing Fergonzi to easily beat Schwarzer in a one-on-one situation.
Afterwards, Persita had a chance from Irsyad Maulana’s shot, but Schwarzer managed to block it. Eventually, no more goals were scored in the first half, with the score tied at 2-2.
In the second half, the match resumed fiercely, with Persita and Arema launching attacks at each other.
However, in the 53rd minute, Arema was awarded a penalty as one of their players was fouled by Javlon Guseynov in the penalty area. Dedik Setiawan expertly converted the spot kick to make it 3-2 to Arema.
But their lead didn’t last long. In the 57th minute, Fergonzi once again breached Arema’s defense to equalize for the Pendekar Cisadane.
Dedik had a golden opportunity to score the winner but his shot from inside the penalty area was blocked by Persita goalkeeper Kartika Ajie, a former Arema custodian.
Eventually, it was former Lincoln City youngster Jack who found the net for Persita with a shot from his right foot in the 80th minute, taking advantage of the chaos following a corner kick from the left side of the visitors’ defense. The goal ended up being the Pendekar Cisadane‘s winner as they emerged victorious from an exciting relegation six-pointer.
The result meant that the race to avoid the drop became more and more intense, as PSS Sleman lost their Matchweek 29 game, with league leaders Borneo FC Samarinda beating the Super Elang Jawa 1-0 at the Manahan Stadium. The result meant that 14th placed PSS, 15th placed Arema, and 16th placed Persita are all tied at 31 points, with only goal difference separating the three.
Defeats for 17th placed Bhayangkara Presisi Indonesia FC (3-2 vs Dewa United) and 18th placed Persikabo 1973 (3-1 vs Pasundan Derby rivals Persib Bandung) meant that a defeat for either of them in Matchweek 30 would send them down to the Liga 2.