January 10, 2003	Friday	Ziqa’ad 6, 1423

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KARACHI, Jan 9: Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) had smooth sailing as nine-man 36 B Centre caved in 3-1 in the All-Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto football tournament in an ill-tempered league game Thursday.

SSGC went 1-0 ahead when Mohammad Muslim headed home a Taj Mohammad free kick in the 35th minute in a match that saw two 36 B Centre players receiving red cards and their coach Liaquat Ali Baloch being barred from sitting on the bench for the rest of the tournament for misconduct.

36 B Centre equalised through Saeed Ahmad in the 64th minute that proved a consolation.

Two-goal Taj banged home his first in the 67th minute but rough-tackling 36 B Centre’s miseries were compounded when their goalkeeper Akhtar Ali received marching orders for dissent in the 70th minute.

Instead of making amends, 36 B Centre paid heavily when they lost another player in the 85th minute after makeshift ‘keeper Abdul Ghaffar collected his second yellow for handling the ball outside the area.

Cashing in on the absence of two players of the opposition, SSGC slammed home their third with Taj pouncing in the 88th minute.

Fouls and rough play from 36 B Centre resulted in five yellow cards.

Jaffar Ahmad’s second half equaliser helped Burma Mohammadan secure a point after a 1-1 draw with Azad Eleven.

Jaffar netted in the 52nd minute after Ghulam Mustafa scored for Azad Eleven in the 24th minute of the first half.