May 08, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 2, 1429

KARACHI, May 7: Ten-man KESC sneaked into the National Challenge Cup soccer quarter-finals on Wednesday after edging past a depleted PWD 1-0 thanks to a first-half Abdul Ghafoor strike at the CDGK Stadium.

Ghafoor slotted home following a cross from Mohammad Moosa in the 40th minute to score the all-important goal which sent them through.

Although the second session did not see more goals coming, both the sides lost a player each for serious offences.

The winners lost Omar Farooq, who received his second yellow in the 61st minute for serious infringement, while Jameel Ahmad of PWD was sent off in the 88th minute.

Meanwhile, National Bank (NBP) became group ‘B’ champions with a 3-0 win over national champions Wapda at the Peoples Sports Complex in a match that saw a red card and misconduct by the bankers’ coach.

After a barren first half, the bankers started making onslaughts deep into Wapda territory. Misbahul Hassan opened the scoring for the bankers off a Mohammad Ashraf corner kick in the 55th minute.

The bankers continued their attacks against a disjointed and unimpressive Wapda to double their lead through Sattar Mansoori who dodged past two defenders to score in the 62nd minute.

It was in the 68th minute that Misbah received his second yellow for what the referee Imtiaz Shah said was entering the field without permission.

“Earlier, he [Misbah] was yellow-carded in the 38th minute for unsporting behaviour and got his second yellow which meant a red for him for entering the field without the officials’ permission,” said the referee after the match.

The red card resulted in heated argument between Misbah, the referee and fourth official Habibullah. To make matters worse, NBP coach Zahid Taj also joined Misbah and left his bench to vent his anger and misbehave with the officials.

The coach argued the player had entered after being granted permission. While he had to be forced by match commissioner Shakoor Baloch to sit on the bench, no action was taken against him.

Sattar got his double when he curled home past Wapda goalkeeper Abdul Aziz from the edge of the box after beating two defenders in the 73rd minute.

The winners might have got their fourth, but substitute Mohammad Asif lobbed the ball wide off target, while Sattar’s 20-yard drive sailed over the bar.

Two-goal Nazir Ahmad helped PIA defeat SGP 5-0 on Tuesday.

Afzal’s opening goal in the 21st minute was followed by Shakir Lashari strike in the 29th minute. Nasrullah found the cage in the 60th minute, while Nazir Ahmad slotted home in the 76th and 85th minutes.

Navy outplayed KRL 4-1 to become the group ‘A’ champions.

KRL got their solitary goal through Mohammad Qasim in the 10th minute which was cancelled out after nine minutes by Navy’s Sajjad Ahmad. Farhan Qadir struck in the 47th and 61st minutes, while Atifur Rahman sealed the fate of the match with an 82nd-minute strike.

PAF beat PEL 2-0 in a match which had no significance as both sides are out of contention.

Zeeshan scored in the 26th minute, while Noman in the 76th minute.

Thursday’s fixtures:

KPT v PIA at Peoples Sports Complex; HBL v SGP at CDGK Stadium.