(UAAP photo)

THE UST Golden Booters nabbed their second win after outlasting the Adamson Soaring Falcons, 1-0, in the UAAP Season 87 men’s football tournament at the UP Diliman Football Pitch on Sunday, Oct. 13.

UST’s Jan Baito secured the lone goal in the game: a low-driven shot from a free kick under Adamson’s wall in the 64th minute of the match.

The win propelled UST to fifth place in the standings with six points, while Adamson remained winless at the bottom.

UST head coach Marjo Allado said the Golden Booters still had a lot of aspects to work on in their game despite the victory.

“‘Yong free kick ni Baito maganda pero when it comes sa game, I would say, honestly, hindi ‘yon ‘yong game na gusto namin mangyari,” Allado told the Varsitarian.

“We lacked control of the game based on possession football kaya ‘yong opponent may counter-attack against us. Honestly, ang Adamson, they played well tonight e,” he added. “So dahil lang doon sa free kick naka-three points kami, pero when it comes to overall performance marami kaming kailangan i-improve.”

UST had multiple chances to score in the first half after penetrating Adamson’s final third but came short of converting. Andrew Ramos tried to capitalize on an open Adamson goal in added time but to no avail.

In the second half, Golden Booters Chris Valderama and Tarshish Garciano made runs past the Adamson backline but couldn’t extend UST’s lead.

At the last minute of the game, Adamson had a chance to equalize in UST’s box but Sam Alegre slid in for a well-timed tackle that sealed the victory for the Golden Booters.

The Golden Booters missed the services of star goalkeeper Miguel Abada, who was suspended after accumulating too many yellow cards. Filling in for him was Mark Daig, who made his UAAP debut with a clean sheet against Adamson.

“Ang pinakamaganda is ‘yong second goalkeeper namin (Daig), nagstep-up siya. First time niyang maglaro sa UAAP pero he showed confidence in this match,” Allado said.

The UST Golden Booters will next face the FEU Tamaraws at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17, at the same venue.

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