FOR the first time, Ceres Negros was practically nothing against its opponent.
The undermanned team suffered from a stinging 0-3 defeat at the hands of Davao Aguilas in the 2018 Philippines Football League at the Panaad Park and Stadium in Bacolod City.
It was Aguilas’ first victory in five games against the back-to-back PFL champion, which dominated their first four encounters – 2-0 in May 2, 3-0 on May 23, 2-1 in June 6, and 3-1 on July 14.
The Busmen were shorthanded with stars Bienvenido Marañon, Roland Muller, Mike Ott, Kevin Ingreso, Manuel Ott, Stephan Schrock, and Patrick Reichelt sitting out the Sunday night match.
The game did not go Ceres’ way from the get go. Head coach Risto Vidakovic was sent off in the 15th minute for his altercation with referee Clifford Daypuyat.
After misses from Ceres’ Armani Aguinaldo and Jose Porteria, Aguilas broke the deadlock in the 27th minute as a long ball allowed Phil Younghusband to strike past the defense of Toni Doblas.
Younghusband quickly added up to the advantage in the 31st minute with another outside-of-the-box shot. The lead grew 3-0 in the 38th minute with Jason de Jong firing into the bottom of the net.
Ceres had multiple opportunities to break the dry spell in the second half but attempts from Blake Powell, Manuel Herrera and Martin Steuble failed to slip past Aguilas’ defense.
“We wanted to win but unfortunately the team was not 100 percent, even with the lineup tonight,” said Ceres assistant coach Ian Treyes. “It’s a nonbearing game but we needed to win against Davao to show our quality.”
Still Ceres remained on top of the standings with 54 points on 17 wins, three losses and three draws while Aguilas was stuck on the third spot with 35 points on a 10-8-5 win-loss-draw card./PN
