Lahore, 6 November: Pakistan Premier Football League saw completion of two more matches at Karachi on Saturday. Sui Southern Gas Company earned face saving win when they overwhelmed stubborn Afghan FC 1-0 at KPT – Benazir Sports Complex, West Wharf Road, Kharadar, Karachi while HBL missed chances after chance and went down 0-1 at the hands of little-known Baloch FC of Nushki at Peoples Sports Complex, Karachi.
SSGC had to thanks their lanky striker Asim Faiz for the full three points as he managed six goals in the event. Arif Mehmood (Pak WAPDA) led the scorers list with 20 goals, followed by Khuda Bakhsh ( Pak WAPDA) and Jadeed Khan ( Afghan FC) with eighth. The seven goal scorers are Saad Ullah (PEL), Imran Hussain ( Pak Army), Muhammad Rasool (KESC). Asim joined Orangzaib Shahmir (KESC), Muhammad Essa ( KESC) and Nomi Martin ( Pak Navy) on six goals.
Asim Faiz, youth international in 1990s, opened the scoring after first half that restricted to midfield and sub standard soccer dominated the session. Karachi-born Asim stopped goal draught in the 64th minute and it was left to winger Sabir Khan to enhance the lead to 2-0 in the 71st minute. Afghan FC replied in the 88th minute when Jadeed Khan created clear run for Abdul Hadi to send the ball into net.It was second win for SSGC in mammoth league, making eight points in 17 matches.
Meanwhile, HBL went down to bottom of the table and are clearly in danger of relegation alongwith SSGC. They missed over ten chances through Zahikir Lashari, Khayal Muhammad and others to suffer 0-1 defeat at the hands of Baloch FC. The all impotant goal of the match was scored by striker Saeed Ahmed in the 35th minute. It was another fine day for Hub-born Saeed who also hammered the lone goal of PIA-Baloch FC clash on Tuesday. HBL pocketed only seven points in 17 games. For the bankers, Muhammad Ibrahim, Abid Hussain, Abdullah also came close to steer the ball past keeper Sher Zaman but their final touches were not upto the required level.
Sunday 7 November Fixture: