KAYA Iloilo kept its unblemished slate at home with a 1-1 draw with Ceres Negros in the 2018 Philippines Football League on Saturday at the Iloilo Sports Complex in La Paz, Iloilo City.
With the outcome, Ceres remained on first place in the standings with a 13-2-3 win-loss-draw slate for 42 points while Kaya was a distant second with 33 points on a 10-4-3 card.
Kaya had two chances to score in the first 15 minutes but attempts from Robert Lopez Mendy and Masanari Omura were defended well by Ceres goalkeeper Toni Doblas.
Ceres also had two opportunities to score but Takumi Uesatoās shots just went wide. Kaya had another chance late in the first half on a wide header by Connor Tacagni.
Kaya had another close chance to score early in the second half on a try by Eric Giganto but this went wide as well. Ceres also had two shots at the goal but these were thwarted by Kaya.
After another Giganto miss, Kaya finally got the lead on a Lopez Mendy shot. Ceres quickly tied things up on a free kick by Kevin Ingreso in the 85th minute.
āIt is tough and tiring to play three games in eight days but the morale of the team was very high,ā said Kaya head coach Noel Marcaida. āWe are always looking forward to our matchup with Ceres.ā
The regional rivals will meet for the fifth and final time this season on Wednesday afternoon. In their four matches so far, both teams had one win each and two draws./PN
