Nickos Mamon’s brace allowed Far Eastern University to salvage a 2-2 draw against University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP Season 86 Men’s Football Tournament on Sunday at the UP Diliman Football Stadium.
The rookie out of FEU-Diliman opened the scoring for the Tamaraws in the 18th minute and tapped the ball home in the 86th minute to salvage a point for the defending champions.
This was the first time Mamon found the back of the net since FEU’s 4-2 win over University of the Philippines back in the first round last February 25 and he now has four goals in this campaign.
“Mamon’s been very hungry for goals,” said coach Albert Besa.
“He’s our first striker, but there are a couple of other players ahead of him in terms of goals so he’s been really hungry. His hunger paid off,” he added.
Despite dropping points for the first time since its 3-1 opening-day loss to De La Salle University last February 22, FEU is the first team to book a ticket to the Final Four this season as it improved its tally to 22 points with a plus-14 goal difference at the top of the standings.
While making the post-season with three games to spare in the elimination round is a cause for celebration, Besa insisted that it was back to the drawing board for the Tamaraws and their coaches in the meantime.
“It’s a great relief,” he said. “However, the challenge there is we don’t wanna take our foot off the gas pedal.
“We just wanna keep on going and make sure that the mentality of the team is at its top. The fear of shifting down and getting a surprise in the Final Four makes us want to go all the way and keep piling up the points,” he furthered.
On the other hand, UST went down to third place in the standings with 17 points and a plus-10 goal difference.
Kyler Escobar and Chris Valderama gave the Golden Booters an impressive turnaround by scoring in the 38th and 40 minutes of the match respectively after Mamon drew first blood.
But the Tamaraws’ persistence in the end paid off as Mamon got the all-important equalizer.
Both teams will return to action on April 25 at the same venue.
UST will face Adamson at 4 p.m. while FEU will go against UP at 6:30 p.m.
The XI:
UST XI: Abada (GK), Alegre, Escobar, Songalia, Belluga, Valderama, Vercide, Marquez, De Sagun, Regis.
FEU XI: Fabrigas (GK), Yu, Basindanan, Mamon, Absalon, Rey (C), Estores, Frigillano, Baylon, Mustapa, Alipoon.
