SHIRMAR Felongco struck a game-tying header in the 84th minute as the UST Golden Booters salvaged a draw, 1-1, against National University (NU) in the UAAP men’s football tournament at the Far Eastern University-Diliman field last Nov. 26.
The UST squad had multiple chances to take the win in the last 10 minutes of the match, including stoppage time. One such opportunity was Patrick O’Neill’s header that hit the crossbar.
Despite NU’s goalkeeper failure to secure the ball, UST wasn’t able to capitalize on another chance at goal.
The Golden Booters had to scramble for the ball toward the end as they conceded a goal to NU via Paolo Salenga’s penalty kick in the 62nd minute.
Head coach Marjo Allado said his team lacked a sense of urgency.
“I noticed the players were slow to step up. We were down by one, 60 minutes into the game and there was still nothing from them,” he said.
The Golden Booters gained an advantage in the first half after NU’s Ronald Espinosa was given a red card, but they couldn’t utilize their one-man edge.
“My instruction at halftime was not to foul outside the box since we were ahead by one player, but we fouled and gave NU the chance to score,” Allado said.
Last Nov. 23, UST disposed of De La Salle University, 2-0, to start its season on a high note.
Jogi Celiz got things going early after scoring a goal four minutes into the match. O’Neill put the game away in favor of UST with another goal in the 80th minute.
