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| October 27, 2002 | Sunday | Sha’aban 20,1423 |
Haq’s golden goal stuns airmen
Wapda 2 Railways 1
KARACHI, Oct 26: First-timers Pakistan Machine Tool Factory (PMTF), aided by a golden goal from Abdul Haq, continued their giant-killing run in the President PFF Cup football championship as they stormed into quarterfinals upsetting PAF Saturday.PMTF who had created quite a stir by edging past formidable Crescent Textile Mills Faisalabad 2-1 in a league match, were worthy winners.
The national champions Wapda survived a fright before entering into the last eight stage with a 2-1 victory over Railways in the second tie of the day at People’s Sports Complex.
But it was PMTF-PAF match which produced another stunning upset of the tournament that saw two shock results Friday with holders Pakistan Army and PIA crashing out.
Earlier, in the first half of the stipulated time, PMTF started with regular strikes through Karim Bukhsh, Mohammad Moosa and Liaquat Ali, who were well supported by midfield. But they missed all the opportunities they got before the breather.
Mohammad Fazal of PAF came close to scoring before halftime but was thwarted by goalkeeper Mukhtar Ahmad who remained vigilant as airmen wasted some six second half chances.
Although PMTF were forced to be defensive as PAF raised the tempo and attacked in the second session Mukhtar stood defiant under the bar. The game ended without score.
First period of the extra time did not produce results, and Haq eventually propelled his side into the quarterfinals with a stunning 35-yard drive eight minutes into second half.
Wapda, fielding several internationals, perhaps took the opposition easy and paid a heavy price when Kalim Akhtar smashed home a inch-perfect pass from Noman Chowdhry in the 15th minute.
After the wake-up call Wapda woke up with counter-attacks through Zaheer Abbas, Zulfiqar Ahmad and Khuda Bukhsh.
Wapda came back strongly in the second half and their domination paid off getting the equaliser just two minutes after re-start.
Zulfiqar drove home with a rising drive which crashed into the roof of the net giving goalkeeper Mohammad Tariq no chance.
Zaheer, a Pakistan striker, ran the Railways defence ragged to supply an accurate pass only to see Zulfiqar hitting the bar in the 71st minute.
Zaheer, however, was not to be denied when he scored what was one of the most spectacular goals of the tournament in the 75th minute. After being set up by Zulfiqar, he worked his way into the area to rifle home as two defenders were left in his wake.
Railways’ Mohammad Shafiq and Kalim received yellow cards for rough play in the dying moments of the game.
Sunday’s fixtures:
PTCL v Khan Research Laboratories at 1.00am; Karachi Port Trust v ABL at 3.00pm
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