University of the Philippines stepped up its game in the second half to beat Adamson University, 2-0, and gain a share of first place on Thursday in the UAAP Season 86 Men’s Football Tournament at the UP Football Stadium.
Francis Tacardon tapped in an Angelo Pagdanganan corner to put the Fighting Maroons ahead in the 52nd minute.
Ramil Bation III, off a beautiful Jan Caraig’s assist, found the back of the net in the 72nd minute to double UP’s lead.
It was also Tacardon and Bation who entered the scoresheet in the Fighting Maroons’ 3-2 squeaker over the Soaring Falcons in a testy encounter to end the first round last Sunday.
Bation now has six goals on his account, tying first round top scorers Ateneo’s Kofi Agyei and De La Salle’s Isaac Anoh. Tacardon, meanwhile, hiked his total to three goals.
“Of course, our goal is to improve every game, and coming from our last game against Adamson, our second half was a bit shaky so that’s what we wanted to improve on this game and yes we were rewarded two goals because of those improvements and adjustments,” said UP coach Popoy Clarino.
“It’s all about playing with their head we simulated how Adamson would play. They were very compact in the middle, they were able to break down their good defense and credit to (Andrew) Nalog, who played a fantastic game. Because of that, we were rewarded with two goals,” he added.
The Fighting Maroons, earlier, had a chance to break the ice two minutes after the restart but Bation’s header was deflected by the Falcons’ hardworking keeper Nalog.
UP moved up to 15 points to level with Far Eastern University on top of the table, but the defending champions are ahead on goals.
Adamson remained at the bottom of the standings with two points.
UP will next face De La Salle on April 7. The Falcons, meanwhile, will take on the Green Booters when the league resumes on April 4 after the Lenten break.
