Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Male: A solitary strike from Muhammad Ridwan was enough to secure a 1-0 victory for Indonesia’s Persib Bandung over former semi-finalists New Radiant SC in Group H of the AFC Cup on Wednesday and confirm his side’s passage to the Round of 16 at the first time of asking while in turn eliminating the Maldivians.
Persib went in front inside 15 minutes at the National Stadium when midfielder Ridwan found the back of the net from eight yards after being teed up by Tantan Dzalikha.
And despite conceding much of the possession to their hosts for the remainder of the game, the visitors’ defence remained firm to hold out for the win and claim the double over their hosts after their 4-1 home win on Matchday One.
Emral Abus’s side top the group on 11 points from five games, two ahead of Myanmar National League side Ayeyawady United - who defeated Lao FC 4-3 in Wednesday’s other Group H encounter - with the two teams set to face off in Bandung in two weeks’ time in a match that will decide the group winners.
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“It was a tough game for us and New Radiant played very well compared to their away game against us. But we are happy with securing a second round place,” said Abus.
“Our next target is to win the group which will help us a lot in the second round of the tournament. We want to finish top of the table.”
The Maldivians had the better of the opening stages but fell behind after 14 minutes when forward Tantan outmuscled Mohamed Sifan on the right side before squaring to Ridwan to side-foot home off the underside of the bar.
The home side continued to control the possession but struggled to create any clear-cut opportunities until five minutes before the interval when Sifan was presented with a chance to make amends for his earlier mistake after being played in by captain Ashad Ali, but he failed to connect properly from 12 yards out.
And New Radiant went back on the ascendency after the restart with Slovakian midfielder Viliam Macko forcing goalkeeper I Made Wirawan to save from a tight angle in the 49th minute following fine interchange play with forward Mohamed Hamza down the left.
The hosts dominated second half proceedings with Macko at the heart of everything but, despite some neat passing, failed to trouble the Persib custodian and looked susceptible to the counter attack.
And with 10 minutes left on the clock the visitors could have put the game beyond any doubt when defender Supardi Nasir broke down the right before cutting back to captain Atep Rizal, but he fired over from eight yards.
Then in stoppage time Nasir missed a golden opportunity to ensure his team avoided a nervy final few minutes when he shot wide with only Uzbek goalkeeper Alisher Ahkmedov to beat after being slipped in by Ridwan but the Indonesians held out for a valuable win.
“I am not happy with the result but we played well and we got some good chances to score but unfortunately we couldn’t finish those chances,” said New Radiant coach Hassan Hameed.
“We are lacking a good striker and we had the opportunity to qualify for the second round in our hands but missed our chances.”
Photo: WSG