By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Kaya Futbol Club-Iloilo recovered from an early deficit to defeat Azkals Development Team, 3-1, in the 2022-2023 Philippines Football League (PFL) at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium on Saturday, March 18.

Audie Menzi, Jarvey Gayoso and Nano Amita converted a goal each as the Iloilo City-based booters racked up their fourth consecutive win for 42 points, on 14 wins and three losses, to close out the Round 3 of the tournament.

Kaya-Iloilo was stunned early in the contest with Andres Aldeguer converting past the defense of Zach Banzon to surge Azkals ahead in the 10th minute.

Kaya-Iloilo responded with an equalizer in the 28th minute as Daizo Horikoshi found Menzi at the far post from a corner and the latter calmly scored past the defense of Azkals.

Gayoso drilled a go-ahead goal in the 47th minute as he had an explosive run from the defense before drilling past the goalkeeper.

The Azkals had their chances to tie the game but could not penetrate the defense before Amita secured the victory for Kaya-Iloilo with a connection in the 94th minute.

This was the third victory of Kaya-Iloilo against the Azkals this season, following a 1-0 triumph last August 7, 2022 and a 1-0 beating on October 1 last year.

“I am happy with the result but nothing has changed. We have to win all our games, that’s still the same. We’re still on the way, so we have to try our best all the time,” Kaya-Iloilo head coach Yu Hoshide said.

“We’re still building up. We can still improve more, so training is really important for us,” he said.

“Recently, our training intensity and motivation have been really good for the players, and that showed in our game,” he added.

Kaya-Iloilo will have a month-long break before returning to action on April 15 against Azkals Development Team anew to start the fourth and final round of the season./ASC, WDJ