Ceres-Negros prevents Davao breakthrough

Davao hosting Ceres at Tagum earlier this week.

The Davao Aguilas have yet to win a football game as a club in the Philippines Football League, as they were held by Ceres-Negros FC to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday afternoon at the Davao del Norte Sports Complex in Tagum City.

With the attention the team got after making the decision to name Marlon Maro as the interim head coach to replace their inaugural gaffer Gary Phillips, the Aguilas were hoping that such a change would lead to an improvement in fortune after losing six of their last eight matches.

Such changes saw immediate dividends, with James Younghusband scoring the opening goal of the match in the 27th minute, as a Phil Younghusband free kick found its way to Harry Sawyer inside the area, with the ball eventually finding James to poke in past the line, after getting a deflection off a Ceres defender.

The Busmen did have their scoring opportunities. Stephan Schroeck's chance in the tenth minute was deflected to the left of the post in the tenth minute, while Manny Ott's opportunity was saved by Marko Trkulja in the 36th minute. Ceres also had a couple of chances just before the first half ended, but the break came with the hosts taking a 1-0 lead.

The visitors continued to put pressure on the Davao defense to find an equalizer to start off the second half, with Schroeck's attempt from the right side being saved by Trkulja in the 48th minute. They eventually would break through in the 73rd minute, as Fernando Rodriguez finally puts Ceres on the board with a header from inside the area.

Each side had their chances to secure the winning goal, but Trkulja challenged Iain Ramsay's scoring opportunity in the 76th minute, while Jeffrey Christiaens and Omid Nazari could not convert on their chances. Meanwhile, Simone Rota's header off a free kick, was ruled offside in the 84th minute, an outcome that Maro was not thrilled with.

Meanwhile, in what was the surprising development of the day for the PFL, the other match scheduled for the day between Global Cebu FC and Stallion Laguna FC at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium was cancelled. Both teams, represented by Josef Malinay for the hosts and Ernie Nierras for the visitors, would then conduct a press conference to address this particular matter, mainly apologizing to the fans for the sudden cancellation.

As of this writing, the league has not yet addressed the statements made by both teams concerned publicly. Aside from its post on Facebook announcing said postponement, the PFL has yet to officially comment on this matter.

NOTES: Attendance at Tagum for this match was just under four thousand. Maro at the post-match press conference: "We indeed won. However, the referee nullified our second goal. It's his opinion. We respect it. To our fans, we are still on the right track for the remaining matches. Ceres has 29 points, but can easily overcome their twelve-point deficit to FC Meralco Manila with their five games in hand. Davao remains mired in seventh place with seven points.