Panaad Stadium continues to be a ground of frustration for Kaya FC–Iloilo, as Ceres Negros again found a way to eke out a slim victory in front of their home fans. Mike Ott’s finish six minutes from time sealed the come-from-behind win for the defending champions, opening their Philippines Football League campaign with a 2-1 triumph.
“This is only the first game out of five encounters against Ceres this season. It’s a heartbreaking result again, just like our last visit here in the semifinals. We really wanted a different story, but it seems we’ll be reading the same story again tomorrow,” said a despondent Noel Marcaida after the match.
The game started with the hosts dominating possession and creating most of the chances. But it wasn’t until right before the break when they got their first attempt on goal — a stinging volley from Takumi Uesato that Ref Cuaresma did well to palm over the bar. That was the standout moment in what otherwise was a rather drab opening period. The second half made up for the lack of excitement in a big way.
Almost immediately after the restart, Patrick Reichelt narrowly missed the target from a corner kick. But just as the hosts were starting to threaten, it was Kaya FC–Iloilo that opened the scoring through some individual brilliance from Jordan Mintah. The Ghanaian picked off Ceres in their final third, raced into the box, navigated the sea of defenders, and cooly slotted in the go-ahead. It could have very easily been two for the visitors 10 minutes later. Jovin Bedic controlled the ball inside the box, froze his defender and fired at goal, but his shot went straight to the keeper.
Straight after, from a counter attack on the left flank, the ball was cutback to Manny Ott, who brilliantly one-timed the ball into the bottom left corner for the equalizer.
“That first strike from Manny Ott, he’s known for that. If you give him space outside the penalty box, he’ll really put that ball in the back of the net,” said Marcaida.
Six minutes later, Kaya threatened to retake the lead. Played clean through on goal by Marwin Angeles, Robert Lopez Mendy could only fire his curling effort into the hands of the onrushing Toni Doblas. Less than five minutes later, Stephan Schrock raced away on the right flank, cut it back to Bienvenido Marañon, who fed Mike Ott for the close range winner.
“When Ceres put in Manny Ott and Schrocky, it changed the whole picture of the game. They were able to gain momentum,” said Marcaida. “If we want to move forward in this league and beat Ceres, we need to convert the chances that we get. They only had a few in the second half, but they were able to convert those chances.”
Mike Ott, playing in his first PFL match, was named Man of the Match for his assist and goal.
“Kaya is a very good team here in the league. It’s not easy. We want to play our football, we want to win. Sometimes it’s one goal, sometimes more. It depends on how we start. We’re happy that we got the win today,” he said.
After two matches, Kaya FC–Iloilo only has a solitary point. But the good news is, the team is back in action on Saturday, looking to get their campaign on track against Stallion Laguna, 7pm, at the University of Makati.
