MANILA, Philippines — Davao Aguilas FC leaned on a hot first half charge to score a breakthrough win over virtual champ Ceres Negros, 3-0, Sunday in the Philippines Football League at Panaad Stadium in Bacolod.
Phil Younghusband struck in the 27th and 31st while Jason de Jong scored in the 38th as the Aguilas finally broke a winless spell against the Busmen spanning five matches.
“This was our first win (against Ceres). We’re quite disappointed it has taken this long but Ceres is a very good team,” said Davao coach Melchor Anzures. “This will boost our confidence heading into the Cup. Hopefully, we’ll take this form and this performance into the next competition.”
The Aguilas improved to 35 points and firmed up their grip on third behind pacesetting Ceres, which at 54 markers had put a lock on the League championship with three games to spare, and second-running Kaya FC Iloilo, which hiked its tally to 42 with a 6-0 rout of Global FC at home last Saturday.
Ceres, which played its first outing since its loss to Singapore side Home United in the AFC Cup Asean zone finals last Aug. 8, sat out some of its top guns like Stephan Schrock, BIenvenido Maranon and brothers Manny and Mike Ott.
“It’s a non-bearing game (for Ceres) but we needed to win against Davao to show our quality, said assistant coach Ian Treyes .”