 |
| Mark Cristino/UFL (file photo) |
By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA--Ceres bucked off a gallant stand from Green Archers and walked away with a 3-2 win in their UFL Cup clash at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on Saturday night.
Resting some of its key players after drawing its AFC Cup debut against Selangor in Bacolod on Tuesday night, Ceres found itself having to beat a determined GAU squad.
Stephan Schrock opened the scoring by following up on his saved shot in the 16th minute for Ceres, but Jimuel Ariola countered with a left wing shot on a 1-on-3 scenario in the 32nd minute for GAU.
Ceres retook the lead in the 36th minute as Lee Jeong-Woo cleaned up Patrick Reichelt's own saved shot and sent the ball past Paolo Pascual.
Ceres then made it 3-1 in the second half as Bienve Marañon got a cross from the left flank and drilled the semi-volley inside the net.
Chieffy Caligdong kept the game interesting in the 75th minute as he struck a well-defended left kick at the right wing past fellow ex-Azkal Ed Sacapaño to give one goal back to GAU.
But Ceres hung on as the club stopped GAU from scoring the potential equalizer in the final minutes of the match.
Ceres remains perfect four games into the group stage and is still comfortably ahead in Group B, giving the reigning UFL champ some momentum entering a huge showdown with Global on Thursday. Global will battle Loyola later Saturday.
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
.jpg)
