Kaya FC–Makati Falls Short in Panaad Thriller

In front of just under 4,000 spectators in Panaad Stadium, Kaya FC–Makati put in a valiant effort against Ceres Negros, pushing the home side until the final whistle. In the end, however, Bienvenido Marañon’s hat-trick handed Makati their second consecutive loss in the Philippines Football League.

“First of all, I would like to give credit to my players. It was an unbelievable effort from them. For me, they performed up to 100% of their capabilities. It was a very satisfying effort from them. It was just so unlucky that we didn’t get the breaks,” said Kaya head coach Noel Marcaida after the match.

Ceres opened the scoring in first half added time, with Marañon looping a shot into the side netting after a well delivered ball from Martin Steuble. It was the only difference in a period where both teams had clear cut opportunities to score.

Robert Mendy replied 10 minutes into the second period, finishing off a fantastic move that began with aggressive pressure to dispossess Negros in their own half. After a brilliant exchange with Marwin Angeles, Mendy, and Miguel Tanton, the latter came away with the ball, fed Jovin Bedic on the left wing, who delivered a great ball for Mendy to fire in.

The deadlock was short lived, though, as Ref Cuaresma was adjudged to have tripped Marañon inside the box. It began with a great stop from the Makati keeper, denying Stephan Schrock’s long range effort. Bienvenido picked up the rebound, and as he was moving away from goal, he anticipated Cuaresma’s advance. As the Spaniard went down, the referee decided there was enough contact for the spot kick. Marañon dispatched the penalty himself to make it 2-1.

Mendy came close to equalizing once again, but his powerful shot on goal was denied by Muller. Bienvenido then put it beyond reach late in the game, beating Alfred Osei with a clever move, before curling in Ceres’ third.

“I’m so happy for the win and the three goals,” said Marañon, who was named Man of the Match. “This game was very hard after two losses, but we fought to win this game, and we deserved the result.”

At the beginning of the match, Eric Giganto almost broke the deadlock in the opening exchanges, but after breaking free and forcing Roland Muller off his line, his shot was well stopped. Shortly after, Mendy was played through, but his attempted lob not only beat the keeper, but also the goal frame.

Ref Cuaresma, on his debut for Kaya, made several outstanding saves to keep the game scoreless. He started by stopping Marañon on a one-on-one. He then denied Iain Ramsey shortly after, and just as the ball was about to trickle into goal, he raced back to deny it from crossing the line. In the process, he absorbed a heavy blow from Jose Porteria, who escaped a second booking for the collision.

“For me, the turning point was the collision that was made with my goalkeeper. My question is, when you watch the game, was it a cautionable foul, or not? I’ll leave that question to you,” said Marcaida before adding. “I give credit to Ref Cuaresma. I think he made some great saves. I think he proved his worth to play in this game. It’s a debut game for him for Kaya FC, and I think he did well.”

The result leaves Kaya FC–Makati still 10 points, after seven games, with Ceres Negros improving to seven points in four outings. Kaya next faces Global on July 2, at the University of Makati.

“Every after a game, we always tell the players to think positive. It’s a long season. Going into the next game, we’ll try to get the three points after coming from losses in our past two games.”