MANILA – In the first half, it seemed Ceres Negros was already off to cruise control toward another win in the 2018 Philippines Football League.
But Global Cebu had other plans – it mounted an almost successful comeback in the second half in a match that produced a 7-goal thriller that the Busmen barely managed to win 4-3.
The match at the Rizal Memorial Stadium started with both Global and Ceres employing a cautious approach. Then, at around the fifth minute, the Busmen gradually started to impose their possession play.
Approaching the first quarter of an hour, the two squads’ tactics started to become more distinct as Ceres began to apply gradual pressure while Global focused on defence and manning the fort.
At around that time, Daniel Gadia was able to pull off an attempt for Global but his shot flew wide.
As the 23rd minute arrived Global coach Marjo Allado was forced to do a change after Dominic Del Rosario suffered an injury with Darryl Regala replacing him.
In the 28th minute Global Cebu was left off the hook momentarily as Patrick Reichelt’s header from a corner kick hit the under-side of the bar and on the line and Badelic was able to spectacularly claw the ball out to safety.
A minute after, Reichelt again with a chance as he was able to beat the offside trap and get to volley an aerial pass toward goal but the shot just went narrowly wide of the far post.
Five minutes after the half-hour mark, Ceres managed to breach Global’s defence with Stephan Schrock notching his third goal of the season as he pounced on a loose ball from Takumi Uesato, who was felled by a Global defender for the breakthrough goal.
Within the next minute, Ceres was already ahead by two goals as Mike Ott’s glancing header off a well-placed Reichelt cross beat Badelic.
As the first half started to wind down, Ceres coach Risto Vidakovic’s wards were very much in control of the proceedings having able to mount several chances.
In the 42nd minute Schrock got his second goal and his team’s third for the match as Ceres Negros held a commanding 3-0 lead by halftime.
After the restart, Global started to be more enterprising in their offensive forays providing problems for Ceres.
Right at the 53rd minute, Global were able to pull one goal back after Darryl Roberts was able to convert Verheye’s cross.
Eight minutes later, Darryl Roberts (once again) headed into goal to reduce his team’s deficit to a single goal.
Ceres had the best response five minutes later, though, as Mike Ott was able to head-in and convert a brilliant pin-point cross by Schrock that restored the two-goal cushion.
Global still continued to toil though which was promptly rewarded by a 70th-minute goal by Salenga off a Daniel Gadia cross.
In the latter stages of the match either teams could have scored a goal but, somehow, substitute striker Gerardo Valmayor of Global wasn’t able to get the equalizer in the 87th minute off a golden chance.
This was followed by another wasteful attempt by Takumi Uesato for Negros in the 89th minute.
Come the final whistle, Ceres barely won the match in a pulsating encounter that ended in a seven-goal thriller. (Fox Sports Asia)
