Stallion barely survives Kaya but widens gap in UFL

MANIA, Philippines – Stallion-Sta. Lucia barely survived Kaya, 3-2, but solidified its hold of the top spot in the United Football League table.

A good Tuesday night crowd at the Emperador Stadium in McKinley Hill saw a classic match plenty of drama.

Stallion raced to a 3-nil advantage at the break but a second half meltdown almost cost them the full three points.  The league leader was poised to score a scintillating victory when star striker Rufo Sanchez, Lee Joo Young and Jeremy Hohn scored one after another in the opening half.

But Kaya, refusing to give up easily, rallied but fell short in the second half.

A missed penalty kick from the returning OJ Porteria early in the second half proved costly for Kaya but triggered a wild chasedown that saw the LBC-backed club scoring two goals down the stretch.

Alex Obiang pulled one goal back in a counter attack 14 minutes after that muffed scoring chance. Then skipper Anton del Rosario added one more two minutes later to bring Kaya within a whisker.

Kaya put more pressure on Stallion’s defense but scoring chances by Obiang and Janrick Soriano failed to hit the back of the net as time ran out.

Kaya fell to its first loss under its Australian head coach David Perkovic and remained in the middle of the pack with 18 points, one shy of current fourth Pachanga-Diliman.

The close victory pushed Stallion’s total to 36 points, five ahead of second running Global, which took a break to participate in the week-long AFC President’s Cup tournament in Cebu City.