A hattrick from Kittitian Tishan Hanley and another goal from Christian Ayew in the second half helped Kaya FC grab their second win in three games over Pachanga-Diliman FC in the United Football League (UFL) Division 1, Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
It was an aggressive first half for the men in yellow as they constantly burdened their opponents on the defensive end. Moreover, their non-stop offensive outing paid off at the 14th minute when Louis Clark found himself open in their attacking third and shot a cross towards fellow forward Christian Ayew. The Ghanaian, then, headed the ball towards Hanley, who was waiting inside the box. The Kittitian national team member easily volleyed the ball away from the outstretched arms of Pachanga-Diliman Goalkeeper, Steve Yambou.
Pachanga-Diliman found themselves in deeper trouble when the UAAP Season 77 Golden Boot Awardee, Jinggoy Valmayor, was forced to leave the pitch due to an injury. Despite losing one of the team’s scorers, the boys in black was able to take one back and force a deadlock. At the 38th minute, substitute Andoni Santos, able to breakthrough Kaya’s backline, was fouled in the penalty area. The ensuing penalty kick was taken by Team Captain Hamed Hajimehdi, who made sure the ball got past Kaya goalkeeper, Nicholas O’Donnell.
Kaya’s struggles continued when they were forced to play with one man less in the subsequent minute with Clark receiving a red card. Being a man down seemed to restore Kaya’s attacking form, and, two minutes later, found themselves in a penalty situation similar to their opposition. Unluckily for the men in yellow, OJ Porteria’s penalty kick was gallantly deflected by Yambou. Undeterred by the miss, however, Kaya found the net once again courtesy of Hanley three minutes after. The forward saw goalie Yambou out of line, and skillfully chipped the ball into the target. Kaya maintained their attacking form until the halftime whistle was blown. The halftime ended in favor of the men in yellow, 2-1.
The second half began with both teams aggressive; Kaya wanting to add more to their lead, while Pachanga wanting to level. It was Kaya that was successful with their objective. 20 minutes after the restart, Hanley, once again, connected with the onion bag. Masanari Omura had enough space to blast the ball toward the goal. The Ivorian goalie, however, had other plans, and palmed the ball out of trouble. Unfortunately for Yambou, Hanley rebounded the ball and easily tapped it into the net. Kaya was not satisfied with a 3-1 lead, and was relentless in getting more points. At the 66th minute, the men in yellow completed their rout of Pachanga with another goal, this time coming from Ayew.
Pachanga on their part, had opportunities to score, but was not able to finish with Kaya’s backline’s continuous hounding.
Kaya Head Coach Fabien Lewis was happy with how his players played, despite Pachanga scoring in the first half. “I think for any team, that’s leading and they concede a goal is a wake-up call it gives everybody under a bit of pressure all players, coaching staff. This gave us some energy and some discipline to rally us for the rest of the game… they did a good job,” he explained.
Both Kaya and Pachanga-Diliman will have a week’s rest before they face UFL league leaders Ceres-La Salle, and Team Socceroo respectively on July 19.
