January 10, 2008	Thursday	Zilhaj 30, 1428

LAHORE, Jan 9: Wapda and Habib Bank Limited (HBL) earned victory as two more matches were decided in the Pakistan Premier football league at the Railways Stadium on Wednesday.

Wapda in their match crushed National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) 3-0 while HBL managed their win against home team Railways by a slim 1-0 margin.

Meanwhile the clash between Wohaib Club and Karachi Port Trust (KPT) had to be called off due to the unplayable conditions at the University of Punjab field.

Wapda, the most threatening candidates for snatching the top spot from Army, put up an impressive display against NBP, with Zulfiqar Ali Shah proving instrumental in scoring both the first half goals. The winners opened the proceedings in an aggressive manner but their first attempt by Imran Niazi in the 16th minute went wide off the mark. Wapda opened scoring in the 20th minute when Zulfiqar’s fierce angular drive popped out of the opposing keeper Amir Gul’s hands and winger Qamar Zaman cashed in on the opportunity.

Wapda scored again in the 40th minute when skipper Arif Mahmood cut the ball across the area for Zulfiqar to do the needful. But he was tripped by Amir inside the area which didn’t go unnoticed by referee Rauf Bari. The resulting penalty-kick was converted into a goal by Zulfiqar through a powerful drive towards the left corner. The winners led 2-0 at half time.

With key players like Sattar Mansuri, Farooq Shah and Mohammad Ashraf on their side, NBP tried their level best to stage a recovery but they failed to pierce through Wapda’s defence.

The second session saw Wapda missing several good opportunities with Arif Mahmood, Zulfiqar, Imran Niazi and second half substitute Khuda Bakhsh fumbling sitters after sitters. NBP too replaced their goalkeeper Amir Gul with Yasir bin Yunus who was successful in foiling many of the opposing team’s attempts. He conceded only one goal in the second session when Arif Mahmood cut in from the right flank and steered the ball past Yasir’s right hand with an angular drive in the 70th minute to seal the match’s fate.

Earlier, HBL claimed three full points when they edged past Railways. Right-full back Aurangzeb struck the all-important goal in the 40th minute when his angular drive went past keeper Tariq.

Matches resume on Friday after a day’s rest.

Friday’s draws:

Navy vs Afghan Club (Naval Complex, Islamabad)

Railways vs NBP (Railway Stadium, Lahore)

Wohaib FC vs KESC (University Ground, Lahore)

PMC vs PIA (PMC Ground, Faisalabad)

Wapda vs KPT (Railway Stadium, Lahore)