Mintah Hat-trick Propels Kaya Makati Over Ilocos United

Kaya Makati fired in five goals against Ilocos United on Wednesday night, making it four straight wins in the Philippines Football League. It was another performance to remember for Jordan Mintah at the University of Makati, as the striker completed his first hat-trick of the season en route to a 5-2 victory.

“First of all I gave thanks to almighty God for giving me my first hat-trick in the league,” said Mintah after the match. “It’s not easy. I worked so hard for it. But the entire team worked so hard for it as well. So I thank the teamwork too.”

While his first goal, less than 10 minutes into the contest, was typical of his exceptional touch and clinical shooting, it was the Ghanaian forward’s heading prowess that took the spotlight the rest of the way. Shortly after John Kanayama leveled the score from the penalty spot, Mintah restored the advantage by rising highest and thumping in the ball from a corner. Similarly, his hat-trick was completed through dominating his defender in the air. Well above his marker on a far post free kick delivery, he calmly powered a header across goal to add gloss to the victory.

“Sometimes in training, when I jump, coach will tell me, ‘Next time, close your mouth and open your eyes.’ So today, I just opened my mouth and closed my eyes,” Mintah laughed. “If I open my mouth and close my eyes, that means I’m going to score. That’s why I got two headed goals. It’s not easy.”

Just as in the win over JPV Marikina last weekend, Robert Mendy was also on the scoresheet. And not for the first time this season, Eric Giganto came on in the second half to score a goal — an assured finish to Mintah’s cutback.

“Basically it’s hard work,” said Kaya Makati head coach Noel Marcaida on his team’s current run, which includes back-to-back wins at home. “The players have really been playing consistently in training. And also, the players have been able to manage themselves to recover despite the heavy schedule that we’ve had this July.”

A Graham Caygill goal took a bit of luster from the triumph, but it did little to dampen Kaya’s confidence ahead of a scheduled rematch on Sunday, July 23.

“We scored two goals. [With] Two goals you should be able to get a point. But you can’t leak five. Kaya were the better team, I don’t deny that,” said Ilocos United head coach Ian Gillan. “We just move on and play Kaya again next week (sic) and hopefully we’ll get something better out of that.”

Sunday’s game kicks off at 7:00pm at the University of Makati.