From: The News
KARACHI: Defending champions Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) came from behind to defeat Pakistan Air Force (PAF) 2-1, while Navy overwhelmed Karachi Port Trust (KPT) 3-0 in the 9th Pakistan Premier Football League matches on Thursday.
At the KRL Football Stadium in Rawalpindi, KRL, who will be featuring in the AFC President’s Cup finals in Tashkent later this month, kept their super form, beating PAF for the second time in the marathon to take their points tally to 12 after four appearances.
PAF, who had stunned former champions Army 1-0 the other day, got onto the scoresheet through Irfan Ali in the 13th minute owing to a blunder from defender Samar Ishaq.
At half time, PAF were leading 1-0. After the breather, KRL, playing under coach Tariq Lutfi, brought discipline in their ranks, firing two goals inside eight minutes to take the decisive lead.
Yasir Afridi, cousin of Test cricketer Riaz Afridi, brought parity for the hosts in the 61st minute. KRL exerted further pressure at this stage, which paid dividends when Quetta-born Mehmood Khan put them ahead with a fine goal in the 68th minute.
After going down, PAF went all out but KRL defenders did a fine job in the deep to avert all their rallies. KRL’s Mehmood Khan was adjudged as the best player of the show.
KRL coach Tariq Lutfi said that his team had done a fine job to beat PAF twice. “I think we did a fine job today when we beat a fighting PAF twice, in both home and away games. But we are going to use our players cautiously because we have to appear in Tashkent’s AFC President’s Cup finals later this month,” said Tariq, also a former Pakistan coach.
Here at the KPT Stadium, Navy produced their second victory, whipping KPT in a one-sided game.
Navy, who were beaten by KESC 3-0 at the same venue the other day, recovered remarkably against KPT to inflate their points tally to seven from five games.
Experienced striker Sajjad Ahmad was the star performer for Navy who struck two goals in 15th and 18th minutes. He was joined on the scoresheet by Mohammad Adnan in 67th minute.
KPT are now trailing at three points from four matches.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) held star-studded National Bank to a 1-1 draw here at the Korangi Baloch Football Ground in Sharafi Goth.
The bankers, who are yet to concede any game in the season, opened the scoring through international midfielder Faisal Iqbal just after the start of the second half.
But PIA, who had tasted a surprise defeat at the hands of KPT the other day, managed to bring an equaliser through Imran Khan in 62nd minute. With the output National Bank moved to seven points from five games, while PIA inflated their tally to four points from three appearances.
At the Nushki Stadium, the match between Nushki’s Baloch FC and Chaman’s Muslim FC ended in a goalless draw. Muslim FC moved to six points from four meetings while Baloch FC have two points from two games.
Today’s fixtures: KESC v HBL (KPT Football Stadium, Karachi), PMC Athletico v WAPDA (PMC Ground, Faisalabad)
Pakistan Premier Football League-2012(9th PPFL-2012)
Match Result (Thursday, September 13, 2012)
Match # 22
KRL beat PAF 2:1 @ 1600 PST @ KRL Football Stadium, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Scorer KRL: Yasir Afridi (FW) 1 Goal @ 61 Mnt and Mahmood Khan (MF) 1 Goal @ 68 Mnt.
Scorer PAF: Irfan Ali (FW) 1 Goal @ 13 Mnt.
Yellow Card KRL: Yasir Afridi @ 46 Mnt, Samar Ishaq @ 51 Mnt and Abid Khan @ 90+3
Yellow Card PAF: Mansoor Khan @17 Mnt.
Best Player: M. Waseem Shahzad of PAF
Best Scorer: Mahmood Khan of KRL
Match Commissioner: Salah-ud-Din, Cell # 0302-5932197
Match # 23
PIA Vs NBP 1:1 Draw @ 1600 PST @ Korangi Baloch Ground, Karachi, Pakistan
Scorer PIA: Imran Khan (FW) 1 Goal @ 62 Mnt.
Scorer NBP: Faisal Iqbal (MF) 1 Goal @ 46 Mnt.
Yellow Card PIA: Waseem Ullah @ 3 Mnt and Riaz Ahmed @ 11 Mnt. Faisal Iqbal @ 68 Mnt.
Yellow Card NBP:
Best Player: Javed Hamza of NBP
Match Commissioner: Iqbal Baloch Junior, Cell # 0333-3329892
Match # 24
Navy beat KPT 3:0 @ 1600 PST @ KPT Football Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan
Scorer KPT: Sajjad Ahmed 2 Goals @ 15 & 18 Mnts and Muhammad Adnan 1 Goal @ 67 Mnt.
Yellow Card Navy: jabbar and Mohsin Ali
Yellow Card KPT: Sajid Hussain and Akhter Mamol
Red Card Navy: Mohsin Ali
Best Player: Sajjad Hussain of Navy
Match Commissioner: Abdul Shakoor Baloch, Cell # 0321-9299986
Match # 25
Baloch FC Vs Muslim FC 0:0 Draw @ 1600 PST @ Noushki Football Stadium, Noushki, Pakistan
Best Player: Muhammad Ibrahim of Baloch FC
Match Commissioner: Muhammad Shafique, Cell # 0301-3737814
Tomorrow 9th PPFL-2012 Fixture :( Friday, September 14, 2012)
Match # 26 KESC Vs HBL @ 1600 PST @ KPT Football Stadium, Karachi
Match # 27 PMC ATH FC Vs WAPDA @ 1600 PST @ PMC Football Ground, Faisalabad