MANILA – Kaya Iloilo stayed unscathed in the Philippines Football League (PFL) after drubbing Maharlika Manila, 4-1, in Matchday 4 action on Saturday night at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Jarvey Gayoso's hat trick set the tone for Kaya Iloilo's domination on the road against the still winless Maharlika Manila side as the Ilonggo side is now 4-0 in the league table for 12 points.
Gayoso began his show in the 13th minute when he recovered the ball after Zaldy Abraham failed to secure the save and struck it from close range for the 1-0 count.
Carlyle Mitchell sneaked into the fun and scored one goal of his own, a 41st minute header off a corner kick as Kaya Iloilo entered halftime ahead, 2-0.
However, it took 38 minutes before Gayoso scored again with a shot just outside of the penalty area to make it 3-0.
Gayoso completed his hat trick after Jhan-Jhan Melliza found him with some space for the header and passed his corner kick to him in the 81st minute.
OJ Clarino scored the consolation goal for Maharlika Manila just before the referee blew his final whistle, rewarding the home side after a better second half defensively save for Gayoso's late goals, something that Kaya Iloilo coach Yu Hoshide was worried about ahead of next week's showdown against fellow title contender Stallion Laguna also at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
"We're very happy [about the win] but disappointed about the last goal especially that the tempo was really slow," Hoshide said.
Stallion Laguna will enter next week's match a hungrier side after dropping its home debut against Dynamic Herb Cebu, 3-4, at the Binan Football Stadium.
Apparently inspired after forcing a draw against United Clark the previous Saturday, Cebu raced to a 3-0 lead at halftime.
Stallion Laguna pulled off a comeback in the second half, but Cebu's second half strike ended up to be just enough to score its first win of the season.
Speaking of United Clark, the club said some of their players have contracted flu, prompting them to call off their supposed showdown against the Azkals Development Team (ADT).
"UCFC is announcing that due to a flu outbreak in our boarding house and a series of injuries during recent matches, we are unable to field the minimum number of players required under PFL regulations and therefore have informed the league and requested the postponement of our match against ADT," the club said in a statement. "This is a very unfortunate situation and out of our hands and we apologize to ADT and to our fans that they won’t be able to see the teams play [yesterday]."
The PFL has yet to decide about the canceled match. (PNA)
