By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA--Loyola heated up further the tight battle for second place in the UFL with a 5-2 win over Pachanga at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on Wednesday night.
Pachanga, however, had a shot at an upset when Hamed Hajimahdi opened the contest with a goal in the fourth minute.
Phil Younghusband, tied the game in the 13th minute after a beautiful pass by Brad Grayson while putting Loyola up 13 minutes later this time off a Charlie Beaton feed.
Steph Permanes equalized for Pachanga as Saba Garmaroudi failed to completely save his 38th minute attack.
Adam Mitter then gave Loyola the upper hand when he headed in a James Younghusband cross in the 41st minute.
Phil returned the favor to Grayson in the 54th minute as the Azkals' star striker saw the Briton wide open and dished the assist for Loyola's fourth goal.
Phil capped a hat trick with an 84th minute strike that turned out to be the icing on the cake for Loyola.
Loyola moved to a three-way tie with idle Global and Kaya, which won in the earlier game against Manila Jeepney, for second spot with 28 points each. Loyola, with the lowest goal difference among the three, stayed in fourth place overall.
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