KAYA-ILOILO FC withstood the relentless assault of the Azkals Development Team Saturday night and escaped with a 1-0 decision for its second win a row in the Philippine Football League at the PFF National Training Center field in Carmona, Cavite
Kenshiro Daniels took advantage of a defensive lapse from Mar Diano, breaking away to score the winning goal in the 16th minute as the squad kept pace with United City FC, which whipped Mendiola FC 6-0 earlier in the day, with two victories each.
Coming off from a 0-1 setback to UCFC last Wednesday, the ADT squad was more active this time and had some bright moments, but just lacked the finishing touch in going down to a second heartbreaking loss in the event presented by Qatar Airways.
Daizo Horikoshi also often had the ADT defense on its toes while former Trinidad and Tobago national player Carlyle Mitchell was a stable presence in the backline, clearing away several potential attacks.
“Without Mitchell we would not have won,” acknowledged Japanese Kaya Iloilo FC coach Yu Yoshide
The Japanese mentor was also glad “that we had three points for the win and came away with no serious injuries,” noting that it was a physical game underscored by the 20 fouls his team committed against the 18 of their opponents.
“Obviously Kaya FC-Iloilo was the better team tonight,” admitted ADT coach Scott Cooper. My boys still lack the composure and our structure was not that strong compared to what we had against UCFC. It would be nice to see a score but overall my team was not too bad. Against two teams that are playing in the AFC Cup, I believe we did quite well.”
He pointed out that his charges were still quite young who “can get over excited. They play with fire in the belly and fire in the head, instead of fire in the belly and ice in the head. They have to learn to keep their cool during ball possessions.”
Cooper likewise singled out Diano who, despite his lapse that led to the winning goal, “shows a bit of promise. He wins his headers and positions himself quite well. I would say that he is showing signs that he can move on.”
Yrick Gallantes and Lance Ocampo all came close to scoring for ADT but had their efforts denied by Mike Casas on the Kaya goal.