Reigning champion Ceres-Negros battled from a goal down twice to salvage a 2-2 draw with Stallion Laguna last Saturday night in the Philippines Football League at Rizal Memorial Stadium.
But Ceres’ Serbian coach Risto Vidakovic was far from pleased over the Busmen’s showing, calling it their “worst game this year.”
“Maybe we underestimated Stallion,” said Vidakovic. “Maybe it was too difficult to motivate the players with the AFC Cup (two weeks ago) and now playing in the [domestic] league.”
But Stallion came prepared against the two-time champions, pouncing on an early mistake as Senegalese striker Abou Sy intercepted a weak pass from Ceres Spanish striker Bienve Maranon before racing away and rifling a shot to the top corner in the fifth minute.
Martin Steuble pulled Ceres level with a curling effort in the 24th minute, but the Busmen trailed again four minutes later after Carli De Murga’s back pass for goalkeeper Roland Muller went straight to goal.
Maranon made amends with a 52nd minute header off a Stephan Schrock pass for the equalizer and while both teams failed to score from there, Vidakovic felt Stallion deserved to win.
“I think Stallion deserved to win because we played our worst game this year,” said Vidakovic. “We gave them two goals at the beginning and it was really hard because the pitch is too slow. Its hard to play fast and to create space.”