Kaya grounds Agila on Porteria's brace

Mark Cristino/UFL
By Kevin Estrada

MANILA--Kaya needed a brace by OJ Porteria to pull down Agila-MSA, 5-1 in the first of the midweek doubleheader of the UFL Cup on Thursday night at the Rizal Memorial Stadium

The wily winger banged his brace 30 minutes apart between the two halves, as the holders won in spectacular style to prepare for its continental debut against Kitchee on Tuesday.

Skipper Aly Borromeo, Kenshiro Daniels and Joven Bedic each found the net start their preparations in its AFC Cup match in the best way possible.

Kaya outshot tits victim by 31 total attempts on goal, and enjoyed 66 percent of the possession to pick up three more points to pace with group leader Stallion.

Jang Dong-Hee equalized for Agila, but Kaya was simply too much as the club suffered its third consecutive setback to remain in the cellar of Group A.

It was almost one-way traffic for Stephen Nicholls's booters as Kaya dominated from the opening whistle. Antonio Ugarte and Dominic Del Rosario fired the warning shots on Benito Rosalia.

Wearing the armband for the second consecutive match, the captain led by example in the 12th minute, when he pounced on a Janrick Soriano touch off a corner kick by Daniels to draw first blood.

However, the South Korean made the match interesting seven minutes later, as Jang equalized after his effort went past Isaac Annan.

Kaya restored order 19 minutes later as Porteria slotted home the penalty kick after Joao Reche Donha handled the ball in the box.

Bedic doubled his club's advantage two minutes at the restart on a rebound after Porteria's initial effort was saved by Rosalia.

The booter dubbed as the "Filipino Messi" completed his brace in the 68th minute in an easy tap-in from the six-yard box to make it 4-1 Kaya.

Daniels completed the rout four minutes later in a solo effort, outsmarting the Agila defense and fired his shot from yards in.

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