Renz Gumban's 40th minute strike kickstarted UST's mauling of the skidding Adamson Falcons. |
By Kevin Estrada
MANILA -- UST retook the fourth spot in the table, taking down Adamson for back-to-back wins in the second round of the UAAP Men's football tournament here at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Four different booters were on the scoresheet for Marjo Allado in a 4-1 win that moved them to 13 points, two ahead of La Salle who earlier won against UE in the afternoon.
Holding a precarious 1-0 lead at the half, the Growling Tigers pulled away for good in the second half, with a three-goal blitz in the span of twelve minutes to register their fourth win in nine matches.
UST's speed and the strength are evident at the opening whistle, imposing their will on the hapless Falcons in both ends of the pitch.
Renz Gumban scored the first for the season hosts in the 40th minute with a little bit of chest control and blasted the ball to the bottom right corner past Carl Viray as UST lead by the slimmest of scorelines ast the break.
The Tigers then claw the Falcons apart at the restart, with the second half blitz by Marvin Bricenio (70'), Darryl Regala (78') and a 82nd minute rocket by Conrado Dimacali gave them precious three points.
Kim Bardaje pulled one back for the Soaring Falcons with three minutes left, but it did not prevent them from losing their sixth straight match, their eight overall to remain rock bottom of the table.
Although pleased with the result, Allado was still preaching caution heading into their next match with Ateneo, considering that Adamson were still into the thick of things in between UST's first and second goals.
"So regarding the game, yung 1-0 lead kanina nung first half, nakakatakot eh kasi may mga free kicks yung Adamson na almost eh. Yung pinakamaganda lang dun eh naka-two goals kami, so yung confidence ng players, andun din," the former Golden Booter acknowledged, noting that all of their goals in the second round came from open plays.
"Ang pinakaimportante sa amin is yung three points, saka yung number of goals din. Kasi sa fourth place ngayon, naghahabulan sa goals. So baka darating yung time na dun ibabase sa goal difference," Allado concluded.
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