STALLION Laguna tries to ride the momentum of its impressive performance against Global Cebu when it hosts JPV Marikina on Wednesday in the Philippines Football League at Binan Football Stadium.
Kickoff is at 4 p.m. with Stallion hoping to pick up its first victory of the season, even as JPV tries to close in on leader Meralco Manila.
Matthew Nierras snatched a late equalizer as Stallion picked up its first point of the season with a 1-1 draw against Global last May 21 and teammate Terrence Linatoc believes the battling performance has given the Laguna side confidence heading into the clash against JPV.
“The morale is really high after Matthew’s equalizer gave us a draw against Global,” said Linatoc. “We’re coming in fresh. We know that we can’t allow JPV to play their game.”
JPV has three points from three matches so far with its only win coming against Davao Aguilas, 3-2. JPV opened the season with a 1-2 defeat to Global and also dropped a 0-1 result against Meralco Manila last May 20.
“It’s a very important game for us if we want to catch up with the leaders,” said JPV coach Dan Padernal. “We were able to prepare well for this match.”
Over in Vigan, Ilocos United battles Kaya Makati at 7 p.m. in their second home match of the season at Quirino Stadium.
It will be Ilocos’ first match since the 1-2 defeat to Meralco Manila last May 13. Ilocos, which kicked off the season with a 1-1 draw with Davao Aguilas at home, actually took the lead in the match against Meralco through Graham Caygill only to concede twice in each half.
Caygill will miss the match due to an injury, but coach Ian Gillan will still have captain John Kanayama, Dominic Del Rosario and Angelo Marasigan to lead the attack.
Kaya, which had its match against JPV last Saturday postponed due to the unavailability of a venue, travelled close to eight hours from Manila to Vigan for the match.
Matches Today (Binan Football Stadium)
4 p.m. – Stallion Laguna vs JPV Marikina
(Quirino Stadium, Vigan)
7 p.m. – Ilocos United vs Kaya FC Makati