CERES-La Salle withstood a late rally to hack out a 3-2 win over Manila Jeepney at the Emperador Stadium on Tuesday and tighten its grip of the top spot in Group A of the United Football League Football Alliance League Cup.
Loyola Meralco stayed firmly behind Ceres in the seven-team standings as it climbed out of a deep two-goal first-half hole to stun Pachanga-Diliman, 3-2, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
In another Group A match at Rizal Memorial Stadium, fifth-running Green Archers United overcame a two-goal deficit to salvage a 3-3 draw against Stallion and keep its faint quarterfinal hopes alive.
The only one-sided match saw Socceroo whip Forza, 3-0, in Group B at Emperador.
Ceres, the reigning Division 2 champion, squandered an early two-goal lead but held on thanks to a second-half header by Jason Sabio off a corner in the 70th minute.
The Sparks fell two goals behind early in the second half no thanks to a brace by Jinggoy Valmayor, but engineered an amazing fightback that saw them turn the game around a minute before the final whistle sounded.
Phil Younghusband knotted the count at 2-2 with a stunning curling free kick a minute into stoppage time before Graham Caygill put the Sparks in front with a goal just a minute later.
The Archers also trailed by two goals, but came back and escaped with the stalemate after Robert Mendy converted a penalty three minutes before injury time.
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