The match

For most of the evening Port handled the occasion well. This was the club’s first game in the ASEAN Club Championship and Božidar Bandović’s first in charge. The Montenegrin, once of Buriram United, was appointed on 25 September to replace Sarawut Treephan and had, by his own count, seven or eight days with the players. “So, you have to trust the players first, and we will be ready for the game later,” he said beforehand, as reported by Liputan6.

They were ready enough. Bruno found space in the box inside four minutes and was denied by Teja Paku Alam’s outstretched right foot. Michael Falkesgaard twice kept Berguinho out at the other end, and five minutes before half-time Bordin Phala cut the ball back for Erik Sviatchenko, whose left-footed shot Teja palmed away. It was goalless at the break and close in the numbers: FotMob has 15 shots each by the end, with Port on 54% of the ball.

Port went ahead after 66 minutes. Ikhwan Tanamal brought down Kaka Mendes in the box and Jude Soonsup-Bell, on as a substitute six minutes earlier, scored the penalty. Port had nine corners to Persib’s two by the end, and for 20 minutes the lead looked like the reward for being the more purposeful side.

Then it went, and Igor Tolic’s substitutes did the damage. In the 87th minute Balša Sekulić, on since the 67th, slid a pass through for Mariano Peralta, on since the 76th, who got away from Manuel Bihr and finished low into the corner. Two minutes into stoppage time Berguinho, set up by Menalo, hit a shot from the edge of the area past Falkesgaard’s dive. With eight minutes added, Persib kept coming, and in the sixth of them Luka Menalo, the official Star of the Match, met Peralta’s delivery with a diving header. Three goals in about ten minutes from a side that had looked contained for 86.

It is one game, and a new manager a week into the job is entitled to a defeat like this. But the manner matters. Persib had more shots on target (seven to five) and a bench that changed the game; Port’s own changes, two of them on the hour, brought the penalty and then nothing more. Port had the lead and did not manage it.

Starting line-ups

Port (4-4-2): Falkesgaard; Lins (Marcel 76′), Bihr, Sviatchenko, Selanon; Bruno, Shimura, Chamratsamee (c), Kaká (Seksan Ratree 71′); Phala (Teerasak Poeiphimai 60′), Costa (Soonsup-Bell 60′). Persib Bandung (3-4-2-1): Teja Paku Alam; César, Matricardi, Kupa (Thom Haye 76′); Reijnders, Alis (Dedi Kusnandar 67′), Klok (Peralta 76′), Tanamal (Kakang Rudianto 90′); Berguinho, Menalo; Uilliam (Sekulić 67′). Line-ups and positions from FotMob.

The managers

Božidar Bandović (Port) had spoken only before the game, and we have found no post-match comment from him. Igor Tolic (Persib) praised his players’ intelligence on the club’s official website, as reported by Sukabumi Update: “They could adapt and change the system in the middle of the match,” he said, adding that his second-half changes were aimed at attack. “I think we deserved this win.” (Both translated from Indonesian.)

The match

Công An Hà Nội’s winner came two minutes into first-half stoppage time. Alan Grafite rolled the ball to Brayan Perea just inside the Lion City half; Perea held off Diogo Costa and back-heeled it across the face of goal, and Léo Artur tapped in from six yards. Léo Artur had already tested Victor Aznar with a curling shot and was denied again by the goalkeeper on the hour.

Lion City had their moments, Antonio Mance shooting over and Bart Ramselaar firing high off the bench, but none of their 13 shots was on target, according to FotMob. Abdul Rasaq Akeem stabbed wide of an empty goal in added time. For Thai readers the touchline was the story: Mark Jackson, who left Buriram in September, against Mano Pölking, the former Thailand head coach.

Starting line-ups

Lion City Sailors (3-4-2-1): Aznar; Datković, Wright, Harun; Costa, Haag, Nakamura, Stewart; Phaëton (Ramselaar 46′), Ui-Young; Mance. Công An Hà Nội (3-4-3): Filip Nguyễn; Minh, Putros, Hậu; Dô, Mauk, Sabater, Phương; Perea, Grafite, Léo Artur. Line-ups from FotMob.

The match

Svay Rieng’s goalkeeper Vireak Dara kept the score down for 38 minutes, turning Jairo’s cross on to the post and tipping a 30-yard drive from Stoichkov over the bar. Then Arif Aiman, found by Marcos Guilherme, ran at the defence and drilled the ball into the bottom corner, and after the break the game went the way the group’s strongest squad expected it to. Marcos Guilherme found the top corner after Jairo’s pass, Kevin Medina headed in Arif’s corner, and the substitutes Shahab Zahedi and Muhammad Daniesh, twice, finished it. JDT had 25 shots and 13 on target, according to FotMob.

Starting line-ups

Johor Darul Ta’zim (3-4-2-1, Xisco Muñoz): Hazmi; Lowry (72′), Medina, Akapo; Arribas (78′), Nené, Fazail (c), Arif Aiman (78′); Stoichkov (67′), Marcos Guilherme; Jairo (67′). Substitutes used included Zahedi and Daniesh. Svay Rieng (4-2-3-1, Matthew McConkey): Dara; Shields (79′), Barbosa (Tiago Alves 46′), Hammouti, Ose; Odawara (c), Tartarotti (68′); Sosidan (Sophal Dimong 46′), Júnior, Chanthea (68′); Peprah. Minute shown: substituted. Line-ups from FotMob.