Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Persipura sealed top spot in Group E of the 2015 AFC Cup on Tuesday evening with a 3-0 win over second-placed Bengaluru and coach has set his sights on reaching the final after the Indonesians secured home field advantage in the Round of 16 later in the month.
Victory leaves Persipura unbeaten in Group E and four points clear of Bengaluru, who had already sealed their place in the knockout rounds earlier in the competition.
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“Bengaluru FC are a good side, but so are Persipura Jayapura,” said coach Osvaldo Lessa. “We have many good players and now we’re on 16 points in the Group with just one draw. I’m looking forward to the rest of the tournament and our aim is to reach the final.
“Persipura are a team that likes playing to win and I have players who love keeping possession and creating chances. We played well up front and we did well to score the three goals that we did.
“In the first half, we played well but I told the players at half time that we needed to do better. To have scored the three goals and got the result is good because that was our aim.”
The Indians had taken the lead in the 23rd minute through Kuman Udanta Singh but, six minutes later, a goal from Argentinian Robertino Pugliara levelled the scores.
Seventeen minutes from time, Persipura took the lead through Imanuel Wanggai and, four minutes later, Ruben Sanadi’s goal put the result beyond any doubt.
“If we had taken our chances, we could have got a result from this game,” said Bengaluru coach Ashley Westwood. “We got a good goal to take the lead, we had worked on something and it paid off. We had NS Manju’s header at 1-0 and a few chances where Udanta and Robin were on the break.
“We played against a very good side. We knew that there would be some long-range shots. It was almost a good night, but playing against a team of their quality, if you don’t defend solidly for 90 minutes, it’s always going to be tough.
“John Johnson and Joshua Walker were on yellow cards, so even if we had won the match and they had picked up suspensions it wouldn’t have helped. It was just a case of picking the best formula and formations to make sure that we’re successful in the I-League and the AFC Cup.”
Photo: WSG