Persebaya pushed by Persik in 1-1 draw

Persebaya pushed by Persik in 1-1 draw

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Kediri, East Java

Defending champion Persebaya Surabaya staved off the
relentless attack of Persik Kediri on Wednesday at the latter's
home ground for a 1-1 draw in the Eastern Division competition of
the 2005 Liga Indonesia.

Persik's "White Tigers" came out fighting from the opening
whistle, keeping Persebaya's line of defense on its toes with
searing strikes from Chilean player Cristian Gonzales and
Argentinean Aldo Sebastian.

The Persebaya "Green Force", led by captain Murzid Effendi,
was taken by surprise by the blitz and was forced to play to
their opponent's tempo. The inevitable happened when Gonzales
scored past Persebaya's towering Chinese-born goalkeeper Zeng
Cheng.

The home crowd support continued to fuel attacks by the 2003
league champion, but Persebaya also began to make counter
attacks.

A smooth breakaway led to diminutive Taufik taking a shot at
goal, with Persik goalkeeper Wahyudi mistiming his block as the
ball sailed in.

In the second half, Persebaya seemed content to play to a draw
as its players scrambled to fend off the attacks. In the 70th
minute, a shot from Hariyanto made it past Zeng, but another
Persik player was judged to have obstructed the goalkeeper and
the goal was disallowed.

Persik manager Iwan Budianto blamed the draw on Wahyudi. "It
was 1,000 percent the keeper's mistake, but what can we do about
it ... We will get our revenge in our next match."