The penultimate weekend of PFL action began with an explosive match as Tuloy FC snapped a seven-game skid in style after demolishing Loyola FC 6-2 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
The XOs, who hadn’t won in almost 2 month’s worth of fixtures, were on paper about the same level as a Loyola squad that had dug themselves out of a slow start to come within touching distance of 6th; as they say however, games aren’t won on paper, and the boys belied the formbook in an electric start to the game that saw them 3-0 up within the first 11 minutes. Tuloy pounced on a sloppy Loyola deflection from a Michael Antilo clearance, John Lloyd Jalique teeing up Jasten Lupangco down the left flank in the 4th minute to open up the scoring. After Levi Saur spurned an open goal 2 minutes later, they didn’t turn down the next opportunity – Cyrelle Saut finished off a slick passing move on the right flank with a booming tap-in in the 8th minute to double the lead. Jasten Lopangco finished off the lightning offensive with his second of the day in the 11th minute off another passing sequence from a short corner to effectively bury the game as a competitive affair.
The rest of the first half ebbed away as Tuloy poked and prodded to no avail while a dispirited Loyola side were simply playing to while away the time. Loyola did pull a goal back to make it 3-1 in the 38th minute – a goalmouth scramble after a corner was nodded in by Isaac Anoh, back with the Wolves after a brief departure to attend to personal matters in the Ivory Coast. Tuloy would stamp their imprimatur on the game once more before the break, however; John Lloyd Jalique would provide again in the dying embers of first-half stoppage time after a driving run down the left flank and a low drive that took a looping bounce off comrade John Sajor past Loyola’s Javi Coscolluela in goal to make it 4-1 at the break.
The second half would be much the same as the middle of the first half, Loyola not taking advantage of the break and coming out as listless and lazy as they were at the start of the match. They did pick the pace up however, and Takaya Harad paid dividends off in the 59th minute, blasting a bouncing ball in the box past Michael Antilo to make it a 4-2 game, and seemingly swing the momentum the Wolves’ way. The counterpunch, however, would knock them out for the count; Tuloy kept pinching and prodding and pulling at the Loyola backline, and it paid off as John Lloyd Jalique finally landed on the scoresheet by himself, cleaning up the loose ball after a deep Tuloy counterattack that went from their own box all the way to the scoresheet in the 74th minute making it 5-1. Syron Saut put the finishing touches on the scintillating display, blasting a free kick through in the 76th minute that came from Teddy Travis being an absolute idiot and yanking Jhon Diaz down off the run to both win his marching orders and give Tuloy the opportunity to make it 6-2.
Tuloy end their season with an uphill task against a rampaging OneTaguig FC next Sunday afternoon while Loyola will lick their wounds before facing eternal rivals Kaya on Saturday afternoon to close out the season.
Psychology graduate that’s been down the football rabbit hole since a kiddie camp in 1996. Once made a tryout for Manila Jeepney and a weekend consists of hand-wringing about Manchester United and Stallion Laguna. Can be found spouting opinions on X @FullyVaxxedJ
