By Xy-Zha Cabanlong
MANILA - It was not an easy victory but a win is a win.
After settling for a draw on their first game at the league opener, defending champions Ceres-Negros FC bounced back and defeated Philippine Air Force FC, 5-0, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Top scorer Bienvenido Marañon drew first blood in the early minutes of the game, which turned out to be the only goal for both teams at the first half as the Airmen were able to keep the scoreline at 1-0.
Curt Dizon opened up the scoring of the second half, extending the Busmen lead to 2-0 in the 52nd minute.
However, things got nasty between OJ Porteria and 2 players of the Air Force that led to each of them earning red cards and getting thrown out of the game.
"The reaction of the referee is correct. They have to protect the players. If they want to fight, they can fight outside," said Ceres-Negros coach Risto Vidakovic.
Down to 10 men, Ceres took advantage of it with Marañon and Dizon scoring a few more for the team.
Marañon closed the game with a hat trick while Dizon had a brace.
"We are not very happy of the game, but we have to regroup, recover, train hard and play better football next time," said Marañon
Although his team lost to the defending champions and losing two of his wards to red cards in the game, Coach Leo Jaena saw positives in facing Ceres.
"There is no way that we could beat Ceres but we win by gaining so much experience as a team by playing against them," Jaena said.
Jaena thinks that had the red card-inducing incident didn't happen, the odds were definitely on their favour.
"The three goals that they scored happened after two of my players were sent off," Jaena added.
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