Porteria props Ceres with brace vs Stallion

BINAN, Laguna—Former national team standout OJ Porteria bagged a brace as Ceres Negros asserted its mastery of Stallion Laguna, 6-2, Wednesday night to firm up its hold of top spot in the Philippines Football League at Biñan Football Stadium.

The Busmen also got goals from Kevin Ingreso, Mike Ott and Patrick Reichelt, before a second half own goal from Reynaldo Villareal completed the scoring as Ceres rolled to an eighth win in nine outings.

Ceres increased its haul to 24 points, eight clear of Kaya Iloilo which has also played one more match than the Busmen.

Davao, which plays Kaya this weekend, remained in third with 14 points, while Stallion and JPV Marikina are level fourth with nine points each.

JPV earlier snapped a seven game losing streak after a 3-1 thumping of Global Cebu.

Goals from Keigo Moriyasu and Ryuki Kozawa and Kennedy Uzoka ensured maximum points for the Japanese-backed side.

Bracing for a tough schedule in June, the Busmen settled early with Reichelt scoring eight minutes into the match.

Porteria doubled the advantage two minutes later with a close range strike, before Ott and Ingreso got on the scoresheet. It was already 6-nil before Stallion grabbed consolation goals through Abou Sy and Fitch Arboleda.