Stallion, Ilocos eye breakthrough triumphs

Stallion Laguna and Ilocos United seek breakthrough victories when they host JPV Marikina and Kaya FC Makati respectively on Wednesday in the Philippines Football League.

Coming off a gutsy 1-1 draw with Global Cebu on May 20, Stallion hopes to nail maximum points this time in the 4 p.m. kickoff against a JPV side that suffered a 0-1 defeat to Meralco Manila in its last outing.

Matthew Nierras scored in the third minute of stoppage time to salvage the stalemate for Stallion—a result that has the Laguna side oozing with confidence.

“The morale is really high after Matthew’s equalizer gave us a draw against Global,” said midfielder Terrence Linatoc. “We’re coming in fresh. We know that we can’t allow JPV to play their game.”

With three points from its first three matches, JPV seeks to pick up its second win of the season, following its 3-2 win over Davao Aguilas on May 14.

“It’s a very important game for us if we want to catch up with the leaders,” said JPV coach Dan Padernal. “We were able to prepare well for this match.”

Over in Vigan, Ilocos United hosts Kaya Makati at 7 p.m. in their second home match of the season at Quirino Stadium.

Ilocos, which hasn’t played since the 1-2 loss to Meralco on May 13, will miss top striker Graham Caygill to injury. But coach Ian Gillan will still have captain John Kanayama, Dominic Del Rosario and Angelo Marasigan to lead the attack.