May 17, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 29, 1428

LAHORE, May 16: The injury-hit U-21 Bahrain came from 0-1 down to earn a 3-1 victory against Pakistan in the 29th Olympics Games qualifiers at the Punjab Stadium here on Wednesday.

Bahrain, who had inflicted 8-0 defeat on Pakistan in their home-leg last month recovered well to win the game in front of a thin crowd.

Fine attacking play in the first 25 minutes from Pakistan and a goal from captain Imran Niazi ruffled the Bahrain camp in the first half. However, once the visitors took control of the game, they cornered Pakistan with a high speed attacking game, leveling the scores in and then going into the lead in dying moments of the half. They contributed one more in the second half to complete yet another impressive win.

It was Bahrain’s third win in five matches in Group-A. Pakistan, on the other hand, lost all their five matches.

The visitors had recalled defenders Ahmed Abdulnabi, Majid Bilal and midfielder Rashid Al Sherooghi for injured trio of Abdulrahman Mubarak, Fawzi Aaish and Abdulla Al Dekheel. They were without seasoned goalkeeper Sayed Ibrahim, who was out with a knee injury, and Ahmed Abdulla, who was under one-match ban after being sent off during Bahrain's 4-0 defeat to hosts Qatar last month in Doha.

But it never showed on the visitors and their dribbling, ball-possession and attacking abilities were of high standard.

Bahrain were the first to settle down and could have scored in the 12th minute through Ismail Omer. But his drive went wide off left post. Pakistan, despite having the services of London-born Kashif Siddiqi, were defensive at the beginning but they improved gradually to gain the upper hand with striker Imran Niazi scoring a fine field goal.

Bahrain roared back gallantly and struck back-to-back goals and take a vital 2-1 lead at the interval. They first restored the parity in the 41st minute when Ismail Latif cashed in on a pass from Ismail Omer steered the ball past Ghulam Nabi. Then in the third minute of injury time midfielder Mahmood Mirza made it 2-1 with a field goal.

After the resumption, Bahrain forged ahead 3-1 when Ismail Latif scored his second in the 56th minute off a penalty-kick.