Stallion drew a hat-trick from skipper Balot Doctora in whipping Team Socceroo, 4-1, last night in the United Football League at Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Slowly but surely recovering from a knee injury, Doctora delivered all his goals in the second half as Stallion grabbed the solo lead with a second straight win.
Simone Rota fired a first-half penalty to set the tone for what was another superb performance from coach Ernie Nierras’ side.
It was Socceroos’ second straight loss. Jerome Cuyos grabbed a late consolation goal for Socceroo.
“Once he gets going he’s dangerous,” Nierras said of Doctora.
Doctora’s pace and clinical finishing was simply too much with his powerful shot in the 59th minute doubling the Stallion lead.
In the other game, Global moved into second spot after a 2-0 blanking of Pachanga Diliman.
Defender Amani Aguinaldo put Global ahead by tapping in from a scramble in the Pachanga box.
The insurance goal didn’t come until the 92nd minute with an Otomo Satoshi goal.
Global club owner Dan Palami was far from impressed.
“Leaves a lot to be desired,” he said. “I think we need to really work a lot on our finishing.”