0
HBL 1 Army 0
NBP 4 Police 0
PIA 3 PTCL 1
Gujranwala 7 Islamabad 0
KARACHI, Jan 31: Habib Bank (HBL) sneaked into quarterfinals after a close 1-0 triumph over Pakistan Army courtesy Asad Qureshi winner in the 50th national hockey championship at UBL Sports Complex on Friday.
Unlike HBL, who lead pool “D”, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) had smooth sailing as they did not face any difficulty in reaching the last eight after a facile 4-0 victory over Police in pool “C”.
Police, however, are still in contention along with Customs, while Army and Karachi `B’ also fight for a quarterfinal berth.
Defending champions PIA scored their second win of the tournament when they recovered after going 1-0 down in the first half to overpower Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) 3-1.
The bankers scored the solitary goal of the match in the 14th minute of the first session when Asad converted a penalty corner.
HBL, however, seemed to be missing influential penalty corner striker Sohail Abbas who now represents Wapda, as they could only convert one short corner out of ten.
But the weak penalty corner department was not the only cause of trouble for the bankers as moves by their forwards failed to produce goals.
The bankers either kept on missing sitters in the second half or failed to penetrate deeper into Army circle as strikers did not display the kind of firepower they showed against Sargodha.
Goalkeeping by Ejaz Khohkhar looked the only strong point of the bankers as the custodian made some fine saves in both the halves. It was only Ejaz’s sterling performance which prevented the soldiers from levelling and even going ahead.
However, Army goalkeeper Mohammad Asghar won the player of the match award for his performance under the bar as he also brought off several outstanding saves.
Mubashir Mukhtar of HBL and Army’s Dilawar Hussain were shown yellow cards after rough play in the 67th minute.
The Policemen were shocked when NBP gained advantage in the 7th minute with Naeem Akbar deflecting a cross fired by Jawaid Iqbal from the right side.
Police caved in as bankers hurried into a 3-0 lead before the breather with promising full-back Imran Warsi, also named the player of the match, scoring twice on penalty corners.
Imran first stretched the margin 2-0 in the 20th minute, and then fired home the third two minutes before the break.
Police had their first real goal-scoring chance just two minutes into the second period but Ejaz Imran was the culprit as he struck the woodwork from close range off an indirect drill.
All the chances of Police controlling the game vanished as NBP hammered in their fourth through Asim Khan whose rasping hit from the top of the semi circle found the target with six minutes in the end.
The national carriers, having a star-studded line-up, were stunned to see PTCL going into a 1-0 lead in the 8th minute when Aqeel Hussain found the cage.
PIA were reduced to 10 players when Amir Saleem was shown a yellow card in the 14th minute. There could have been another shock for PIA had PTCL not missed a golden opportunity in the 17th minute.
While PIA heaved a sigh of relief when PTCL failed to convert a 17th-minute penalty stroke, PTCL were left cursing their luck as Saleem Khalid missed the chance.
The national airlines finally got their act together in the 31st minute to level through former Pakistan captain Atif Bashir.
PIA tightened the grip when Mohammad Farooq netted his first in the 42nd minute and doubled it in the 49th minute to complete the tally.
PIA’s Inam-ur-Rahman was declared the player of the match.
In a match having no significance, Gujranwala handed a crushing 7-0 defeat to winless Islamabad. Both the teams, after playing four games each, crashed out of the tournament.
Gujranwala raced to a 4-0 lead before the interval, starting with a Adeel Amjad goal in the 4th minute, Shahnawar Cheema netted in the 12th and 23rd minutes, while Irfan Mahmood got the fourth three minutes before halftime.
Islamabad’s punishment ended with three more goals after resumption with Mohammad Saleem scoring in the 42nd minute, while Khurram Shahzad and Tahir Farooq netted in the 44th and 65th minute.
Islamabad’s Mazhar-ul-Islam was adjudged the player of the match.
Saturday’s fixtures:
ABL v Wapda at 12.00pm; Karachi ‘B’ v Army at 2.00pm; Police v Customs at 4.00pm.
