Sriwijaya FC vs Persekat Match Recap - Oct 17, 2025

Sriwijaya FC's Nightmare Season Deepens as Ten-Man Side Surrenders Stoppage-Time Winner to Persekat

The misery continues at Jakabaring Stadium.

Sriwijaya FC's torturous Liga 2 campaign hit a new nadir Friday evening as the beleaguered hosts collapsed in spectacular fashion, surrendering a 90th-minute goal to visiting Persekat while playing with nine men after a pair of second-half dismissals turned a tense defensive struggle into a rout of discipline and composure. The 1-0 defeat extended Sriwijaya's winless run to four consecutive matches and left the once-proud club languishing in 10th place with just a single point from five matches—a catastrophic start that has transformed early-season optimism into growing dread.

The match appeared destined for a scoreless draw through the opening half, both sides tentative in possession and wary of committing numbers forward. Persekat, themselves struggling with form after taking just one point from their previous two outings, seemed content to absorb pressure and probe on the counterattack. Sriwijaya controlled possession without menace, their attacking play blunted by a lack of creativity in the final third that has plagued them throughout this disastrous stretch.

Everything changed in the 52nd minute when Sriwijaya suffered their first red card, the specifics lost to the chaos of the moment but the consequences immediate and severe. Playing with ten men against a side desperate for points, the hosts retreated into a defensive shell, abandoning any pretense of attacking ambition in favor of preservation. For 25 minutes, the strategy held. Persekat pressed but couldn't break through, their finishing as wayward as it had been in recent weeks when they'd conceded six goals across two defeats.

Then came the 77th minute and the moment that sealed Sriwijaya's fate. A second red card reduced the home side to nine men, and Jakabaring Stadium—once a fortress for a club with genuine title aspirations—fell silent save for the growing anxiety rippling through the stands. With more than a quarter-hour remaining and a two-man advantage, Persekat smelled blood.

The final passages of regulation time descended into siege warfare, Sriwijaya's depleted ranks scrambling desperately to clear crosses and block shots as Persekat threw numbers forward. The home side survived one wave, then another, the clock becoming their only ally as the match entered stoppage time. But football offers no mercy to the undisciplined, and in the 90th minute, Persekat finally broke through, a goal that sparked jubilant celebrations from the visitors while confirming Sriwijaya's place at the bottom of the table.

The context makes this defeat even more damning. Sriwijaya entered October having secured their lone point of the season—a wild 3-3 draw at Persikad Depok where they scored twice in first-half stoppage time—and briefly harbored hopes that fixture might serve as a turning point. Instead, they've collected three consecutive defeats by a combined 1-7 scoreline, the attacking output that produced five goals in two late-September matches evaporating completely. Friday's shutout marked their third blanking in five matches overall, a toothless run that has left them with the league's worst record: zero wins, one draw, four losses.

Persekat, by contrast, found salvation in the most unlikely circumstances. Their recent form—winless in three with back-to-back defeats including a 4-0 thrashing at Garudayaksa—suggested a side spiraling toward crisis. But desperation breeds opportunism, and facing nine men for the final quarter-hour provided exactly the opening they needed. The three points won't erase the defensive fragilities that have plagued their campaign, but they offer crucial breathing room in what promises to be a grinding relegation battle.

For Sriwijaya, the questions multiply with each passing week. The discipline issues that produced two red cards Friday reflect a team unraveling under pressure, while the inability to generate chances even before the dismissals speaks to deeper tactical failures. With the season still young, there's theoretical time to recover—but at 1-15 on points, with just one goal in their last three matches and a goal differential approaching catastrophic, the trajectory points only downward. What was supposed to be a campaign of redemption has become one of reckoning, each match another test of how much worse things can get before they improve.