By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA--With Phil Younghusband out, Loyola banked on a virtual nobody to stave itself from falling into a huge upset loss against Manila Jeepney.
Giving its star striker a rest, Loyola banked on new acquisition Anthony Putrus-Schnell, and he scored two beautiful second half goals to complete the club's comeback from 0-2 down to beat Manila Jeepney, 3-2, in their UFL clash at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Putrus-Schnell kicked off his scoring in the 58th minute as he drilled a volley to the goal and tied the match, 2-2. He completed the game-deciding brace with another rocket goal in the 62nd minute, helping Loyola escape the upset ax of Jeepney, which featured some ex-Loyola players including Coach Kim Chul-Su.
Former Loyola player Jake Morallo followed an earlier goal by Arthur Kouassi and put Jeepney up, 2-0, putting the latter in a good position to post the season's biggest upset so far.
But Tahj Minniecon ignited Loyola's comeback by getting one back before halftime, setting up Putrus-Schnell's second half heroics.
Loyola climbed to the provisional lead with its second straight win in as many matches.