Diggers bury the Wolves

The weekend’s PFL slate kicked off in a fiery manner Saturday afternoon as Manila Digger FC moved closer to the top places in the table after a smash-and-grab 3-1 victory against Loyola FC.

While Loyola were able to control traffic early on, able to pepper Digger custodian Yuya Kuriyama often, the Red and Yellow struck first in the 7th minute; Earl Piñero picking up the pieces for his 3rd of the season after a through ball unlocked the titanic Salifu Jattah, whose shot ended up being blocked but spilled by defender David Asare. Loyola then pushed and prodded for the equalizer to no effect, leaving a number of chances begging, and their lax and unorganized backline was punished in the 40th minute – Jattah turned and netted one for himself after intercepting a pass inside the Loyola backline and leaving a surprised Isaac Annan unable to do anything but pick the ball out of the net.

The second half saw an energized blue and orange squad try once again to push for a goal and swing the tide of the match – however they would find themselves on the receiving end of that swing in the 67th minute. Trying to work the passing lanes, Jayvee Kallukaran sent an innocuous backpass towards the before-hand snakebit Isaac Annan, who ended up committing an All-Decade PFL howler by misjudging his positioning on the ball and diverted the ball into his own net, making it 3 to the Diggers and completely breaking the spirits of his team-mates. Loyola were able to get some impetus back when Rupert Baña stepped onto the pitch and drove a lot of attacking momentum down the left flank. I Lupi did manage a consolation goal. Kallukaran profiting from a goalmouth scramble 4 minutes into stoppage time, but it was too little too late as Manila Digger moved into 3rd in the league table for now.