Suara.com – Semen Padang coach Delfriadi admitted that he was a bit disappointed that his team failed to maintain their lead when they were hosted by Malut United in the first leg of the Indonesian League 2 semi-final at the Madya Stadium, Newsdelivers.com, Sunday (25/2/2024).
The club nicknamed Kabau Sirah took the lead through Firman Juliansyah's goal in the 41st minute, before the hosts equalized from Hari Nur Yulianto's goal in the 88th minute.
“Yes, of course we as coaches are disappointed, who wouldn't be disappointed, we only conceded in the last three minutes. But that's football. Sometimes you can (concede) in injury time. “But that's what we're grateful for too, that's what God gave us, we're grateful for that,” said Delfriadi at a press conference after the match, as published by Antara.
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Before Hari scored the equalizer, Malut posed a serious threat when substitute Dave Mustaine's shot hit the crossbar and bounced off the goal line. However, because it happened so quickly, the referee did not approve the goal.
Regarding this, Delfriadi believes that this is a risk that must be accepted by all parties, because currently VAR technology or goal lines have not been implemented.
“That's why we don't have VAR and so on, that's a risk. Because it cannot be detected clearly. But if there is VAR, maybe it can be done,” he said.
In the first leg of the semi-final match against Malut United, Semen Padang was without its prolific striker, Kenneth Ngwoke.
The player from Nigeria was not fit to play the match, although he was seen doing a number of warm-up movements.
Seeing that his front line was still having difficulty penetrating North Maluku's defense, Delfriadi also harbored hopes of being able to play the striker from the start in the second leg.
“We'll see first, whether he can be a starter or not. We'll see how. “Hopefully he can be a starter (in the second leg),” said Delfriadi.
Semen Padang will be the host of the second semi-final leg on 29 February. Victory over North Maluku will lock up a final ticket as well as a promotion slot to League 1 next season.