MANILA – Ceres Negros bowed out of the 2018 Philippines Football League Copa Paulino Alcantara after their 1-2 loss to Davao Aguilas at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
The defeat kicked the back-to-back PFL League champions to the last place in Group A with 3 points on a 1-3 win-loss card – and removed them from contention for the crossover semifinals.
Injuries to their key players and suspensions to some hurt their title hopes in the short conference, Ceres assistant coach Ian Treyes said after the Saturday match.
“At the start of this campaign, you can already see that most of our players are on the injured list,” Treyes said. “We tried our best to perform 101-percent in this Cup, but it wasn’t enough.”
Aguilas were aggressive from the start. Jason de Jong nearly scored within the first 15 minutes but his shot got wide. They took the lead a minute later when Wesley Dos Santos redirected the corner toward the goal from a very narrow angle.
Ceres nearly scored an equalizer before the first half ended but the Omid Nazari free kick didn’t have enough power. Aguilas widened the lead 2-0 in the second half on a Phil Younghusband conversion.
The Busmen pulled a goal back minutes later courtesy of Mike Ott, who ran into the box and volleyed in the corner of older brother Manny. They tried to go for the tie but the deep backline of Aguilas only allowed them to take shots from outside the box.
Ceres will get on a lengthy break after 20 months of consecutive football. They will start the 2019 campaign in February in the preliminary stages of the AFC Champions League./PN
