Persikabo 1973 have been relegated from this season's Liga 1 Indonesia after suffering a heavy 5-2 defeat away at Persik Kediri on Thursday night, with Portuguese striker Flavio Silva scoring all five goals for the home side.
With this loss, Persikabo remains firmly rooted at the bottom of the table with 17 points from 30 matches. Even if they were to secure victories in their remaining four matches, the Laskar Padjajaran would still not be able to surpass Persita Tangerang, who sits at the edge of the safety zone in 15th place with 31 points.
Meanwhile, for the hosts Persik, the additional three points lifted them to sixth place with a total of 46 points. This signifies Persik's continued involvement in the intense competition for a spot in the Championship Series, where only the top four teams advance to the do-or-die stage to determine the league champion. League leaders Borneo FC Samarinda had earlier confirmed their place as regular season champions, with the remaining three spots being tightly contested.
Both Persik and Persikabo aimed for attacking displays early in the game. Persikabo posed a threat through Edouardo Kau's shot, which was saved by Persik's goalkeeper Dikri Yusron.
Persik then broke the deadlock in the 14th minute. Starting from a cross by Jeam Kelly Sroyer, the ball was headed in by Flavio Silva to breach the visitors' defense, putting Persik in the lead 1-0.
Flavio extended Persik's lead in the 18th minute, capitalizing on another assist from Sroyer with a right-footed shot.
Persikabo's defense was breached again in the 33rd minute. Flavio completed his hat-trick as he calmly overcame the challenges from Persikabo's players, forcing goalkeeper Syahrul Trisna to retrieve the ball from the back of his net.
Just before halftime, in the 42nd minute, Persik added another goal to their tally. Exploiting a defensive error from the away team, Flavio seized the opportunity to score his fourth goal of the match, beating goalkeeper Syahrul.
Persikabo managed to pull one back in the 44th minute. A foul by Anderson Nascimento on Frengky Missa inside the penalty box led to a penalty kick, which was expertly converted by Yandi Sofyan, making the score 4-1 in favor of Persik at half-time.
In the second half, the game intensified as both teams continued to attack while maintaining solid defensive lines.
The visitors narrowed the deficit in the 64th minute through Yandi's second goal.
However, Persik restored their three-goal lead in the 81st minute. A foul on Muhammad Supriadi inside the penalty box awarded Persik a penalty kick. Persik's sharpshooter Flavio had no trouble beating goalkeeper Syahrul, securing his fifth goal of the match, thus concluding the goal fest of the evening.
