Bacolod turns back Dumaguete 3-0

Bacolod turns back Dumaguete 3-0

by rick olivares

DUMAGUETE -- Dumaguete’s U-23 team began the match with a frenetic pace that caught short-handed Bacolod off guard. A couple of through balls and blazing runs on the wing that led to scoring chances and the Dumagueteños had the capacity home crowd at the Filomeno Cimafranca Field in Cimafranca rocking.

Ten minutes into the match, Bacolod, minus coach Norman Fegidero Jr. who had to rush back home for an emergency meeting and defenders Jake Morallo and Lemuel Unabia who had to fly to Manila for a UFL match, settled down and the incursions were halted.

Making it worse for the home team, they shot themselves on the foot with repeated mistakes in clearance aside from remarkably shoddy goaltending.

Dumaguete keeper Ricky James Lacson ventured far out in spite of having his back four in position and Jovin Bedic obliged him by firing into an empty net in the 31^st minute as the former backpedalled too late. Eight minutes later, after a scrum inside the box, Lacson tried to clear the ball by booting it high into the air. The problem was it a teammate square in the back and the ball spun to the right side of the box where Bedic took the early Christmas present to send it past the stunned Dumagueteños.

A game that had been so promising early on had spiraled out of the control. Their early reliance on the long ball had been turned back and coach Pere Siennes’ boys had problems getting the ball out of the middle third.

In the 63^rd minute, Lacson put a cap to his nightmarish day by fouling a Bacolod player inside the box for a penalty. Super sub Joshua Beloya who had just come in, took the spot kick and banged it home for a 3-nil lead and his second in as many matches.

Dumaguete had a chance to pull one back as a penalty was awarded for a Bacolod handball inside the box, but

Dumaguete was also missing a few players who were in Manila to take their college entrance exams but it hardly mattered to Siennes who was visibly upset with his players who couldn’t string up consecutive passes or communicate properly. “Wasted chance,” he muttered as he stormed off the pitch.

Bacolod’s 3-nil win put them on level with idle Iloilo (which watched from the stands) as they tallied six points in two matches thus far. The two teams collide Monday 1pm at Cimafranca Field.

Starting Lineups:

Bacolod: John Robert Mendoza, Carmelo Tacusalme, Jimmy Malaloan, Janrick Soriano, Willy Mangubat, Michael Pacite, Jay Baguioro, JR Solinas, Ralph Layumas, Jovin Bedic, Aldrin Dolino.

Dumaguete: Morris John Tulang, Rod Francis Famador, Nikko Buenavista, John Gerson Rubio, Daryl Flores, Frederick Isic, Remelito Tabuñag, Angelo Mariño, Ricky James Lacson, Mark Dickie Abella, Adrian Pitogo.