KARACHI: Skipper Arif Mehmood scored a hat-trick to help four-time former champions WAPDA record their fourth win of the season as they inflicted a crushing 4-1 defeat on Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) in a 9th Pakistan Premier Football League match at the Railways Stadium in Lahore on Monday, 1st October 2012.
Arif, who looked off-colour in the previous few games, showed his real firework, hitting goals in 62nd and 77th minutes on penalties and another in the injury time in the hosts’ thumping victory.
This was the second hat-trick of the season. The first was scored by KESC striker Mohammad Rasool. Arif was joined on the scoresheet by Mohammad Ahmad with a fine field effort in the 83rd minute.
ZTBL were able to bring an equaliser through Hikmatullah in the 72nd minute but after that they were really put on the back-foot as WAPDA played very aggressively, giving no further chance to the visitors.
WAPDA coach Syed Qasim Raza was happy with the outcome. “It was a good victory for us, but we were facing problems as our two top players, Naveed Akram and Mehmood Ali, were not playing due to suspension,” Qasim said.
“Our boys are playing like an unpredictable team mainly due to injuries to a bunch of key players but we are trying to overcome the problems and to bring in the team to their right tempo. I hope that we will be able to overcome all the hurdles in a week or two,” the coach said.
The victory took WAPDA to 14 points from seven games, while ZTBL are reeling at four points from seven meetings. After Tuesday (today) when only one game will be held, the Premier League will gain momentum as almost all the Karachi- and Balochistan-based teams are reaching Lahore and Islamabad to play their away games.
As many as 240 matches will be held in the marathon which will conclude on December 29 here at Karachi.Today’s fixture: PMC Athletico v Army (PMC Football Ground, Faisalabad).
Source: The News
9th Pakistan Premier Football League-2012(9th PPFL-2012)
Match Results (Sunday, September 30, 2012)
Match # 65
WAPDA beat ZTBL 4:1 @ 1530 PST @ Railway Football Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan
Scorer WAPDA: Arif Mahmood (FW & Captain) 3 Goals @ 62, 77 (through Penalty Kick), 90+1 Mnts.
Scorer ZTBL: Hikmat Ullah (FW) 1 Goal @ 72 Mnt.
Yellow Card WAPDA: Muhammad Rasheed (DF) @ 80 Mnt.
Yellow Card ZTBL: Naveed (DF) @ 77 Mnt and Saeed Khan (FW) @ 85 Mnt.
Best Player: Hikmat Ullah (FW) of ZTBL
Best Scorer: Arif Mahmood of WAPDA
Match Commissioner: Rasheed Mahmood Butt Cell # 0333-4349648
Tomorrow 9th PPFL-2012 Fixture :( Tuesday, October 2, 2012)
Match # 63 PMC FC Vs Army @ 1530 PST @ PMC Football Ground, Faisalabad, Pakistan
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | D | P | Last 5 matches | H2H | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karachi Electric | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 2 | +16 | 21 | D W W W W | ||
| 2 | National Bank | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 18 | W D D W W | ||
| 3 |  |
WAPDA | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 14 | W L D W D | |
| 4 |  |
KRL | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 14 | D D W W W | |
| 5 | |
Muslim | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 14 | L D D W W | |
| 6 | |
Pakistan Navy | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 9 | +1 | 13 | D W D L D | |
| 7 | Pakistan Airlines | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 12 | D W L W D | ||
| 8 | Pakistan Army | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 11 | W D W W D | ||
| 9 | Pakistan Air Force | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 11 | W W D L D | ||
| 10 | Karachi Port Trust | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 11 | W D W D L | ||
| 11 | Baloch | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 15 | -11 | 7 | L D D L L | ||
| 12 | Habib Bank | 10 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 11 | -7 | 6 | D D D L L | ||
| 13 | PMC Athletico | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 4 | D D D D L | ||
| 14 | Afghan | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 4 | L L L W L | ||
| 15 | ZTBL | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 13 | -9 | 4 | L D D L D | ||
| 16 | Wohaib | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 12 | -9 | 2 | L L D L D |