Riding high on AFC triumph, Ceres trips rival Global

BACOLOD CITY—Ceres-Negros continued its fine form on Saturday, nipping fierce rival Global Cebu, 1-0, for a breakthrough victory in the 2017 Philippines Football League at Panaad Stadium here.

In the battle of the last two league champions, an 82nd minute strike from leftback Jeffrey Christiaens propelled the Busmen to maximum points, while inflicting a first loss of the season on Global, which remained in second spot with seven points from four matches.

“It’s not easy to play these kinds of games especially coming off a big match, but my players were very professional and I’m very happy with their performance,” said Ceres coach Risto Vidakovic.

Still riding high on their historic AFC Cup Asean zonal semifinal triumph, the Busmen kept the ball for long periods, but found Global goalkeeper Patrick Deyto a tough nut to crack in the match dubbed the “Visayas Clasico.”

The Global goalkeeper also denied Martin Steuble from long range in the first half, before keeping out Iain Ramsay’s close-range effort early in the second half.

But Deyto could do little to prevent Christiaens from scoring the match winning goal.

Set up by substitute Stephan Schrock, Christiaens fired home an excellent volley at the far post to the bottom corner, sparking celebrations in the stadium that had witnessed the Busmen upset Malaysian champions Johor Darul Ta’zim in the AFC Cup last Wednesday.

The alarming trend of conceding late goals continued for Global, which was also held to a draw by Stallion Laguna two weeks because of a stoppage time strike.

Global also lost its AFC Cup semifinal against Home United, after conceding twice in the last four minutes.

“We didn’t learn from our last games,” said Deyto.