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Despite a big defeat in his team’s debut in the competition, coach Jacksen Tiago was still optimistic about Persipura Jayapura’s chances of achieving some good results in the AFC Champions League.

The Black Pearls are at the bottom of Group F after their 4-1 loss to Korea’s Jeonbuk Motors at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, on Tuesday night, after being under pressure for most of the match.

Jeonbuk tops the group on goal difference from Japan’s Kashima Antlers, who took a 1-0 victory over Changchun Yatai of China, on Tuesday.

“We’ve learned our lessons from the debut. It’ll take a bigger effort to do well in the Champions League,” Jacksen said after the game.

“But we still have five more [group] games. Five more chances to improve the squad because we don’t want to be a punching bag in this competition. We’ll hit back.”

Jacksen acknowledged that despite playing with mostly reserve players, Jeonbuk was in a different league. The 2009 K-League champion fielded younger athletes in order to concentrate on the domestic K-League, which kicks off on Saturday.

“Now the players know that AFC Champions League is a different ball game. A much better game than the local league, so they just have to do more.”

Persipura has two weeks to make improvements before its next appearance in Asia’s most lucrative club championship on March 9, when it will visit Chinese Super League runner-up Changcun.

Jacksen promised Persipura would be better by then, although he doubted that the squad could win the match.

“All I can say is we’ll perform better than tonight and let’s just hope we could get something out of the match,” he said.

Two other Indonesian clubs also failed to secure a first victory in the second-tier AFC Cup.

Copa Indonesia champion Sriwijaya FC was held to a 0-0 draw away to Victory FC of the Maldives in a Group F game, while in Group G, Persiwa Wamena lost 3-2 at home to VB, another club from the Maldives.

Sriwijaya coach Rahmad Darmawan was disappointed that his side failed to get on the scoreboard.

“I am not happy with the result, but a goalless draw in an away game is not bad,” he told the AFC Web site.

Despite leading the game twice, Persiwa fell to VB at Gajayana Stadium, Malang.

Erick Week Lewis scored in the 11th minute for the host but was cancelled out by Ashfaq Ali’s strike in the 52nd.

Persiwa took the lead again in the 62nd minute when Boakai Eddie Foday found the net, only to see Akram Abdul Gani level just three minutes later.

Striker Ali Umar secured victory for the visitors with a goal just two minutes before full time. ACL