MALANG (5 April 2015) – Arema Cronus made it a scorcher of an opener in the BNQ League 2015 when they held Persija Jakarta to an exhilirating 4-4 draw at home at the Kanjuruhan Stadium last night.
Cristian Gonzales nodded in the cross from Arif Suyono after just ten minutes as the talismanic Bambang Pamungkas then converted a penalty on 18 minutes to make it all square.
Persija then went ahead when Bambang beat Arema’s Kurnia Mega again between the post in the 29th minute with a stinger from some 20metres out.
But just a minute later, Arif would turn provided for Samsul Arif to unleash a volley for Arema to be back in contention at 2-2.
Arema took a 3-2 lead at the break off Fabiano Beltrame’s 37th minute strike as Persija came under pressure for a reply.
The several exchanges in the second half failed to ignite Persija up until the 75th minute when Bambang once again nicked in a thunderous shot to make it even 3-3.
Eight minutes to the end, Greg Nwokolo gave Persija a 4-3 lead as Arema lost Ahmad Alfarizi to a red card.
But that did little to deter Arema and after some sustained pressure, they earned a penalty deep in injury time for Fabiano to score and for each team to share the spoils.
BNQ LEAGUE 2015 RESULTS
Sriwijaya FC 1 – 1 Pelita Bandung Raya
Arema Cronus 4 – 4 Persija Jakarta
Persela Lamongan 0 – 2 Barito Putera
Persib Bandung 1 – 0 Semen Padang
Perseru Serui 2 – 1 Bali United Pusam
Persipura Jayapura 2 – 0 Persiram
