Loyola needed to thread the needle before securing a share of the spoils after a four-goal draw with Maharlika Taguig in the middle of the Sunday triple-headers at Rizal Memorial. What was touted as one of the matches of the week nearly turned out to be a night to forget for manager Roxy Dorlas, but his Rambling Wolfpack weathered every curveball to escape Adriatico with a point.
Loyola came into the match with a threadbare squad, with all five of their substitutes being outfield players and no reliever for Javi Coscolluella, who had to play the entire ninety between the sticks. Maharlika went surprisingly ahead just eight minutes after capitalizing on a Dyango Echter bad pass, with forward Lucas Del Rosario slotting the ball home with his right foot after being picked out by his skipper Gael Basana on their counter. Loyola had multiple chances before and after conceding the opener, but the forward partnership of captain Seong-Min Kim and William Winter saw their efforts go either wide off the post or into the hands of Mamadou Sene.
Also complicating matters was the eight-minute stretch to play with ten men, as Joem Logarta was belatedly replaced by Thirdy Closa in the 24th minute after the former went down with a hurt ankle. Maharlika then went two goals up in the 28th minute, with the role reversal seeing Del Rosario find his captain on the run, with Basana producing the final touch as he beat Coscolluella with his right foot. Just as they looked dead and buried, Loyola finally pulled one back to breach Sene’s goal deep in first-half stoppage time, with Kim finally beating the Senegalese shot-stopper after poking home a lob to convert Ousmane Sidibe’s cross.
However, most of the second half was a carbon copy of Loyola’s horrible first half, as they could not capitalize on their chances and were nearly made to pay for underestimating their opponents, who had the same points as them but the Pack ahead on goal difference. Centre-half Alessane Wade had the clearest chance two minutes before the ninety, as he had his open header already beating Sene but could not direct it inside the far right post.
But salvation would come in injury time, with Sidibe providing the late heroics after converting on a short volley to level the match at 2-2, which came from a build-up by Jorrel Aristorenas. The returning vet saw his cross flicked by Kim to Winter inside the box, who then found the Ivorian just outside the six-yard box and made no mistake with his right foot to force the stalemate.
MAHARLIKA: Sene (GK), Abo (Soufiane 67’), MJ Libre, Del Rosario, Jamon, Otuyemi, Basa ©, Mailly, Uy (Sebuha 80’), Gold, Basana (Ravanes 70’)
LOYOLA: Coscolluella (GK), Wade, SM Kim ©, Beaton (Acot 84’), Aristorenas, Sidibe, Kallukaran (Saludo 62’), Echter (Asare 46’), Logarta (Closa 24’), Kante (Chua 84’), Winter
