Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Bandung: Indonesia champions Persib Bandung ensured home advantage in the last 16 of the AFC Cup after they shared a rollercoaster 3-3 draw with Group H runners-up Ayeyawady United of Myanmar on Wednesday.
Visitors Ayeyawady came from behind three times against their Indonesian hosts with Macedonian striker Riste Naumov twice cancelling out goals from Supardi Nasir and Muhammad Ridwan before Makan Konate’s late penalty for Persib was matched by Nay Lin Aung’s stoppage time equaliser
However, having needed to take all three points to leapfrog the home side and take first place in the group Ayeyawady will now travel to Malaysia to face Group F winners Johor Darul Ta’zim on 27 May for a place in the quarter-finals, while Persib will entertain Hong Kong’s Kitchee.
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“It's not what we expected as we wanted to win the match, though we had already secured a place in knockout stage,” said Persib coach Emral Abus.
“Still, I gave high appreciation to my players as they played well and showed great spirit. But, it turned out that the opponents also wanted to win the match badly.
“I had warned the players to keep their focus throughout the match. Two goals, one late in the first half and one in late in the second half, showed that we lack focus in critical times. We need to fix this for the knockout stage as the matches will be tougher.”
After the sides exchanged early chances through Konate and Naumov, Nasir finally broke the deadlock for the hosts when he hit the net from Ridwan's assist on the 28th minute.
With the goal advantage, Persib began to settle and kept the pressure on the visitors' defence with Malian forward Konate almost doubling the lead when he headed Ridwan’s cross narrowly over.
But just a minute before halftime, the visitors secured an equaliser when Naumov curled in from distance past I Made Wirawan in the Persib goal.
The match continued in its back-and-forth nature just seven minutes into the second period as Firman Utina ran into the heart of visitors' defence and sent a through pass to Ridwan, who rounded Ayeyawady goalkeeper Vanlal Hruaia to score.
After going ahead for a second time, Persib stood off their opponents and with 18 minutes remaining Ayeyawady were back on level terms at 2-2 after Edison Fonseca was fouled in the penalty box by Vladimir Vujovic and Naumov stepped up to slam home his tournament-leading eighth goal of the campaign.
But with just two minutes remaining Persib had their own penalty after Utina was brought down and Konate converted to restore the hosts lead for a third time.
However, Ayeyawady were not to be denied a share of the spoils with substitute Nay Lin Aung bringing them level for the third time in the match in stoppage time, although falling short of taking the title of group winners away from the home side.
“Persib is a better team and they played better in the match. But, I have to give all credits to my players,” said Ayeyawady coach Marjan Sekulovski.
“They didn't give up until the end and came from behind three times. We showed good performance.
“We got this result because they wanted to show their best form. We're a crazy team because we never give up. It's our strength.”
Photo: WSG