Petro, Perak cruise to LG Cup semifinals

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A golden goal by Danilo Fernando in the 116th minute during the extra time earned Petrokimia a 3-2 win over Singapore Armed Forces FC (SAFFC) on Sunday and a place in the semifinals of the LG Cup ASEAN Club Championship, Antara reported.

Later on in the day, Perak FC of Malaysia secured another semifinal place after defeating Samart United of Cambodia 2-0, with Frank J. Seator scoring both goals.

Played in Gresik, East Java, the hosts fell behind to a goal from Jeyakanth Jeyapal's after eight minutes.

Jeyapal silenced the 10,000 home supporters with his second goal in the 25th minute after he got past the offside trap before beating goalkeeper Syahbani.

The match was halted for about four minutes when fans started hurling plastic bottles onto the pitch. They were protesting the decisions of Thai referee Veerapool Prayoon, which, they claimed, frequently went against their team.

Petrokimia piled on the pressure, but the first goal came in injury time of the first half, thanks to a cunning maneuver by Rivaldo Costa at the mouth of Mohd Rezal Bin Hassan's goal.

The host team continued the attack in the second half and was rewarded through Aries Budi Prasetyo, who headed a cross from Danilo. The score did not change until the end of the game.

During extra time, Danilo scored himself to seal victory for his team.

Team coach Alexander Sikov was amazed by his team's spirited performance.

"I did not expect the players would be so fired up. Home support helped spur the team to intensify the offensive when we were 0-2 down," he said.