MANILA – Ceres-Negros FC cruised to an 8-0 victory over Global Cebu FC in the 2019 Philippines Football League on Saturday at the Philippine Football Federation Training Center in Carmona, Cavite.
Spanish striker Bienvenido Marañon fired four goals, Mahir Karic had two goals, while Mike Ott, and Jeffrey Christaens added a conversion each for the defending champions Ceres-Negros.
The Busmen immediately got the lead as Marañon redirected a missed header by Omid Nazari. The lead was doubled as Marañon smashed the ball off the foot of Global Cebu keeper Nelson Gasic.
After several misses by the Ceres-Negros, the lead was increased to 3-0 as Marañon completed his hat trick at the 33rd minute when he tapped the ball from a cross by Stephan Schrock.
Ceres-Negros got its fourth goal from a penalty conversion by Ott from a handball in injury time. The Busmen went on to build a 5-0 edge early in the second half on a point blank hit by Karic.
Marañon was allowed enough space to drill in his fourth after two minutes as the lead went up to 6-0 before Karic and Christaens wrapped up the goal spree with back-to-back hits.
With the victory, Ceres-Negros moved up to solo first place in the standings with seven points, on two wins and a draw, while Global Cebu suffered its second straight defeat.
Club football will take a break as the FIFA International break and will resume on June 28. Ceres-Negros, however, will battle Hanoi FC in the ASEAN semifinals of the AFC Cup on June 18 and 25./PN
