Global Cebu, Ceres Negros held to draw in AFC

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine sides Global Cebu and Ceres Negros failed to get maximum points against their respective rivals and settled for identical 1-1 draws in Match Day Two of the AFC Cup group stages Tuesday.

Patrick Deyto saved an 80th minute penalty as the Global booters salvaged a point after squandering an early one-goal lead in their Group G matchup with Indonesian side Bali United at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

The Busmen, for their part, leaned on Super Herrera’s 79th minute header to tie S-League outfit Home United, which played with 10 men for most of the second half, over at Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore.

Ceres maintained its hold of top spot in its group with four points while Global picked up its first point following a 0-1 defeat to FLC Thanh Hoa in the opener.

The Cebu booters actually got the head-start on Bali, with Curt Dizon firing home 11 minutes in but they couldn’t hold on or add up and surrendered the equalizer to Ilija Spasojevic at the 74th.

Spasojevic got the chance to steal it for Bali but Deyto masterfully spoiled his spot-kick and preserved the stalemate.

“I think we deserved to win but this is football,” said the Azkals mainstay. “We have to give credit to Bali, they kept coming at us even if we were leading 1-0. But now we really have to win the next few games, get as many points as we can and hopefully, it will be enough for us to go to the next round.”