AFC Champions League Two
The home victory earned the Indonesia side their third Group E win in as many matches while Melbourne remained in second place on four points after falling to their first defeat.
Melbourne failed to capitalise on early opportunities as Keegan Jelacic first had his seventh-minute attempt from the byline blocked by defender Danijel Loncar, the striker then arriving too late in the area to connect to Charles Nduka’s inviting header.
The home side fared no better in the opening 20 minutes, Gakuto Notsuda’s strike from distance was easily collected by Jack and Berguinho steering his header wide of the right post following a corner.
Persib’s Franco Lino missed the inside of the right post by inches in the 25th minute while Sekulic, set loose on the left at the opposing end by Berguinho, saw his attempt on the half-hour mark fly off into the distance.
The Indonesian side’s single shot on target saw them head into the break one better than their counterparts, who failed to gain any headway in the goal-making department.
Group E: Persib Bandung (IDN) v Melbourne Victory (AUS)
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Persib wasted no time in finding the opening goal after the restart when Sekulic squeezed between two defenders on the right two minutes in and guided his shot beyond a diving Warshawsky into the bottom left.
The striker almost added a second in the 52nd minute with a dipping strike from outside the area but his attempt was palmed over by the alert Melbourne keeper.
Melbourne forced their way into the game three minutes later when Clarismario Santos’s wicked 18-yard shot crashed against the underside, with Nduka’s follow-up effort cleared away by defender Patricio Matricardi.
Warshawsky tipped over Thom Haye’s 30-yard free-kick in the 63rd minute, but Sekulic got the better of him three minutes later when he came in from behind the defence to pick up Berguinho’s pin-point through ball and drill his shot into the bottom left.
Matthew Grimaldi had Melbourne’s first look at goal in the 74th minute but saw his attempt easily collected by Fitrah Maulana while Jelacic shot just wide of the right post in the closing minutes as the clock ended their hopes of a fightback.
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