Mariano Peralta’s first half penalty earned hosts Persib Bandung a 1-0 win over The Cong – Viettel FC on Wednesday as the Indonesian Super League side secured a second victory in Group B of the AFC Champions League Two.
Peralta’s 45th minute spot-kick was enough to seal the win for Igor Tolic’s team as both sides finished the game with 10 men following the sending off in the second half of Viettel’s Paulinho and Marc Klok for Persib.
The result moves Persib onto six points from two matches while Viettel remain on one point following their opening draw against Melbourne Victory last month.
The visitors made a promising start and, in the 20th minute, Trieu Viet Hung rose to meet Khuat Van Khang’s cross from the left after the winger had turned the Persib defence, but his downward header bounced wide of Teja Paku Alam’s left post.
Persib’s Ikhwan Tanamal forced Nguyen Van Viet into action 11 minutes later, the goalkeeper throwing himself to his right to keep out a goal-bound strike from 20 yards while Peralta curled his attempt wide of the top corner of the Vietnamese side’s goal.
Peralta’s pace paid dividends for Persib late in the half, however, when he outstripped Kyle Colonna only for the defender to cut the Argentinian forward down in the penalty area, leaving referee Ahmed Darwish little choice but to point to the spot.
Peralta calmly stepped up and, after Van Viet committed by moving to his right, the 28-year-old rolled the ball into the opposite corner to give Persib the lead.
Seventeen minutes into the second half Persib almost added a second. Thom Haye’s cross after a short corner found Julio Cesar as he moved through the penalty area but the defender could only nod the ball over the bar.
A foul by Paulinho on Peralta earned the Brazilian his second booking of the match in the 68th minute to leave the visitors shorthanded although a rash challenge by Klok on Nguyen Duc Hoang Minh six minutes later also resulted in Persib being reduced to 10 men.
Van Viet dived to his left in the 80th minute to keep out Haye’s shot from distance as The Cong successfully repelled a promising Persib counter-attack while five minutes later he denied Luka Menalo at point-blank range but the home side still managed to take all three points.
RESULTS
Al Faisaly (Jor) bt Al Nahda (Oma) 2-0
Al Taawoun (KSA) bt Al Rayyan (Qat) 2-1
Al Muharraq (Bhr) bt Golgohar Sirjan (Irn) 2-0
Al Jazira FSC (UAE) bt FC Arkadag (Tkm) 2-1
Kuwait SC (Kuw) bt Al Khaldiya (Bhr) 3-1
Al Wahda (UAE) bt PFC Nasaf (Uzb) 2-1
Persib Bandung (Ina) bt The Cong Viettel (Vie) 1-0
Melbourne Victory (UAE) bt FC Seoul (Kor) 3-0
Al Hussein (Jor) bt Al Seeb Club (Oma) 3-0
