By Mark Garcia
BACOLOD CITY – OJ Porteria converted a penalty while Bienvenido Marañon scored a brace as Ceres-Negros FC blanked the visiting Davao Aguilas, 3-0,Wednesday night to regain the No. 1 spot in the Philippines Football League at the Pana-ad Park and Stadium here.
After some difficulty in cracking Davao’s defense in the early goings, Ceres settled down and got their tempo back to assert their dominance with their persistence rewarded a minute before the break when former Ceres’ player Simone Rota tackled Marañon in the box resulting to a penalty which Porteria converted with precision.
With their counter-attacking ways, Ceres took control of the second half with Marañon doubling the lead in the 60th minute off a pass from Omid Nazari.
Marañon bagged a brace eight minutes later, this time receiving the pass from Porteria.
With the win, Ceres is now on top of the team standings with 18 points after seven matches with Kaya-Iloilo FC, which lost to Global Cebu, 3-1.
The Busmen are scheduled to play against Stallions Laguna this Saturday in Biñan.
“Each one was eager to win, the attacks came in the second half and the finishing touches were there again. Hopefully, we can continue playing this way,” assistant coach Ian Treyes said.
