Sparks whitewash Nomads in UFL

MANILA, Philippines - Loyola Meralco Sparks leaned on Fil-Brit Mark Hartmann’s brace as it blanked Nomads FC, 5-0, to seize the solo lead in the First Division of the United Football League at the McKinley Hill grounds Tuesday night.

Hartmann knocked in a free kick past Nomads goalie Friso Klok on the 37th then Chad Gould added another one four minutes later to give the Sparks a 2-0 cushion going into halftime. 

Hartmann struck again on the 64th before Simon Greatwich and Phil Younghusband hit their own goals on the 69th and 89th, respectively, to put the match out of reach.

Hartman’s thus hiked his goals total to six as the Sparks jumped from third to solo first place with 16 match points on five wins and a draw.

Erstwhile leader and reigning League champion Global FC and last year’s Cup titlist Stallion FC slid to joint second with 15 points.

Despite the lopsided defeat, Nomads remained at No. 4 with 11 points on three wins and two draws against two losses.

Kaya FC, a team bankrolled by LBC, waylaid Army FC, 3-0, in a match that saw an ejection of an Army booter for kicking a referee.

Sean Iliff, Jose Elmer Porteria and Janrick Soriano scored on the 43rd, 63rd and 91st, respectively, as the Kaya booters moved from sixth to fifth with eight points on two wins and two standoffs against two setbacks.

The match turned ugly when, just moments after Soriano closed out scoring, Army defender Rodrigo Betita, at first, kicked the ball to assistant ref Ronaldo Yurag then hit him outright on the leg seconds later.

That prompted match officials to toss Betita out for an automatic minimum one-game suspension and a possible fine.

It was the Armymen’s fifth defeat.