SPANISH midfielder Bienvenido Marañon registered a hat-trick to propel Ceres Negros to a 3-1 victory over Kaya Makati, while leader Meralco Manila absorbed its second straight draw—1-1 with Stallion Laguna—last Saturday in the Philippines Football League (PFL).
Marañon was on fire at Ceres’s home pitch at the Panaad Stadium in Bacolod City and posted the second hat-trick of the inaugural professional league. He scored his first goal in the 46th minute.
Marañon added two more goals in the second half as the Busmen bounced back from back-to-back losses and hiked their tally to seven points from four matches.
Kaya equalized 10 minutes into the second half through Robery Lopez Mendy, before Marañon replied with two goals for the hosts.
“I’m so happy for the win and the three goals,” said Marañon, who was named Man of the Match. “This game was very hard after two losses, but we fought to win this game, and we deserved the result.”
Over at Rizal Memorial Stadium, Meralco dropped points for the second straight match after Stallion Laguna came from behind to snatch a draw.
The Sparks took the lead through Phil Younghusband’s penalty in the 15th minute, but Laguna leveled at the hour mark when Jess Melliza finished off a quick counterattack.
Despite the draw, Meralco remained on top with 17 points from seven matches, while Stallion stayed at seventh with three points after a third draw of the season.
“We were expecting our young players to step up but the demands of the game were very high,” Meralco Coach Aris Caslib said. “Stallion was strong in the middle. They collected the ball in middle and passed to the flanks. They were faster in transition. For us it’s a setback.”
Kaya lost for a second straight match as it stayed in fourth behind Meralco, JPV Marikina and Global Cebu.
Ceres grabbed the advantage in front of close to 4,000 fans when Marañon’s looping effort beat the debuting Ref Cuaresma on the Kaya goal. But the visitors came out with renewed vigor in the second half and Mendy finished off a flowing move for the equalizer in the 55th minute.
The Busmen regained the lead after Marañon converted a spotkick off a foul from Cuaresma before adding a late strike to complete his hattrick that increased his tally to four goals this season.