September 18, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 17, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 17: District West champions Ghani XI beat Hazara Mohammadan 3-1 to give them a taste of their third successive loss in Sport 360’s ongoing KASB Premier League Football at the CDGK Stadium on Wednesday night.

The match’s initial 10 minutes saw the seemingly weak Ghani XI, playing without two of their star strikers — Mohammad Nadeem and Hashmatullah — being kept under constant pressure by the attacking Hazara side.

Their front-runners Alam Zeb, Faheem Shah, Naeem Khan and Mohammad Saqib made several attempts at Ghani’s goal only to be confronted by their veteran goalkeeper Khair Mohammad who said nothing doing.

The first goal came in the 26th minute when Ghani XI’s striker Gul Mohammad ably converted a pass given to him from left-winger Zaheer Ahmed.

The score at the interval was 1-0.

The second session saw the winners producing sensational play when their frontline comprising Atif Ali, Gul Mohammad, Zaheer Ahmed and Jamaluddin together with midfielders Mohammad Mushtaq and Naimatullah made Hazara’s defenders Fareed Khan, Gulraiz Khan, Mohammad Khan and goalkeeper Wajid Khan work harder.

The 54th minute saw Ghani’s striker Gul Mohammad sending fellow striker Jamaluddin’s pass into the left-side netting to double the lead.

Hazara Mohammadan managed to reduce the lead in the 68th minute through their substitute striker Shakeel Ahmed.

And they got another chance to restore parity just two minutes later but missed the opportunity with Ghani’s goalkeeper Khair Mohammad leaping to catch hold of the ball.

Ghani XI’s third goal came in the 82nd minute when striker Atif Ali netted Gul Mohammad’s pass from inside the penalty area.

Ghani XI’s Naimatullah and Hazara Mohammadan’s Mohammad Iqbal were shown yellow cards during the match by match referee Mohammad Muslim.

Ghani XI have eight points from their five matches whereas Hazara Mohammadan have three from their four games.