The much anticipated clash between league leaders Kaya FC-Iloilo and Dynamic Herb Cebu FC saw both sides settle for a 1-1 in Sunday’s Philippines Football League brought to you by Qatar Airways in front of a capacity crowd at the Dynamic Herb Sports Complex in Talisay City, Cebu.
The result saw Kaya maintain a two-point advantage over Cebu in the standings as the race for the league title heats up in its final stretch of the season.
We really wanted to win the match because that was very important for us,” said Kaya head coach Yu Hoshide. “It’s our last game against Cebu away and the players showed their worth very well.”
League top scorer Daizo Horikoshi broke the deadlock in the eight minute to claim his 14th goal of the season. A blistering run from Mar Diano in the right flank found the Japanese free in the middle to pounce on the shot past Jun Badelic from close range.
“We had a good start today and it was good for us,” said goalscorer Horikoshi.
Cebu, backed by its boisterous sold out crowd in the stadium, drew level in the 19th minute from Jacob Liao’s effort. JB Borlongan’s free kick found the defender in the box, who slotted it past Zach Banzon to bring life in the stadium.
“It’s something that we have done in training, it was just a reflection of our performance during the training sessions,” said goalscorer Liao.
Dylan Nobiraki had the best chance for Kaya to retake the lead midway in the first half, but his effort was denied by the cross bar.
Cebu pressed on for the winner with several chances from Ivan Ouano, Marius Kore, but were denied by the heroics of Banzon.
“Today was a very competitive match as both teams were fighting for the top spot,” said Cebu head coach Mehmet Kakil. “We were prepared for it but anything can happen in football. For us we needed to win to get the advantage and we were unable to get it today.”