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| September 16, 2005 | Friday | Sha'aban 11, 1426 |
Cavaliers to face Qalandars in Sunday’s final
KARACHI, Sept 15: Northern Cavaliers lost to Baloch Lions 1-3 but were lucky to make it to Super Hockey League final on better goal average at Hockey Club of Pakistan on Thursday. Cavaliers, who were tied at nine points along with Sindh Qalandars, reached the final as they scored more goals than Lions who also accumulated nine points.
Qalandars earned the final spot being at top of the table and having the best goal average.
Northern Cavaliers caved in against early shocks as Lions opened their account with a Kashif Yaqoob effort in the 10th minute.
Lions were 2-0 up after four minutes when Shakeel Abbasi converted a penalty stroke.
Struggling to reduce the margin, Cavaliers received another shock when Akhtar Ali was suspended in the 39th minute.
Lions scored their third goal when Shakeel was once again came into action in the 51st minute.
Consolation for Cavaliers came when Rehan Butt netted the solitary goal a minute later.
Lions also lost a player when Sajjad Anwar was red carded a minute before time.
Earlier Frontier Falcons ended Capital Dynamos hopes of reaching final after a surprise 5-2 win.
Dynamos, who were being considered dark horse after 7-4 win over favourites Shan-e-Punjab and 4-2 triumph over Baloch Lions, surprisingly went down tamely against the rank outsiders.
Although the victory by bottom-of-the-table Falcons could not do wonders for them as they only had three points, it certainly robbed Dynamos of a chance of reaching the final, paving the way for Sindh Qalandars.
Falcons rattled Dynamos when they slotted home their opening goal through a Kashif penalty corner conversion in the seventh minute.
Falcons might have gone 2-0 ahead had Dynamos goalkeeper Amanullah not saved a short corner effort three minutes before the end of opening quarter.
Mudassir Ali Khan effort on a rebound during short corner five minutes into second quarter was disallowed by umpire Zulfiqar Haider for a foul.
While Dynamos strikers lacked any firepower their defenders too looked stale as Falcons bolstered their position with their goal when Mohammad Arif slammed the backboards after being perfectly assisted by Mohammad Farooq in the 26th minute.
Amanullah twice thwarted falcons attacks during the two penalty corner completed the after the whistle for the end of second quarter.
As the Dynamos were hardly offering resistance, Falcons put their talons firmly into opposition when they pulled their through Indian Viren Resquina banged home following a Naeem Akbar cross in the 40th minute.
There was respite for Dynamos as Abbas Haider came into action from the top of the circle to rifle home the fourth just four minutes later.
Arif, the Player-of-the-Match, pressed for his double after some hard work by Mohammad Anis but failed after an Amanullah save.
While Dynamos’ Shahid Rabbani try sailed over the bar, Rana Sajjad of Falcons was denied by Amanullah.
Dynamos finally netted their first when they reduced the margin through Gagan on a penalty stroke in the 49th minute.
Falcons completed the tally when Farooq made it 5-1 with a rasping hit from the top of the semi-circle in the 50th minute.
Shahid, who was the pick of Dynamos attack against Shan-e-Punjab, grabbed the second with a penalty corner conversion in the 56th minute.
Friday will be rest day. The classification matches for third to sixth place will be played on Saturday while final between Cavaliers and Qalandars will be on Sunday.
Saturday’s fixtures:
Capital dynamos v Frontier Falcons (5th-6th place playoff) 6.30pm; Shan-e-Punjab v Baloch Lions (3rd-4th place playoff) 9.30pm.
Final points table (teams, played, won, lost, goals for, goals against, points):
Sindh Qalandars 5 3 2 14 10 9
Northern Cavaliers 5 3 2 13 12 9
Baloch Lions 5 3 2 12 11 9
Shan-e-Punjab 5 3 2 16 17 9
Capital Dynamos 5 2 3 16 16 6
Frontier Falcons 5 1 4 8 13 3
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