LAHORE, Nov 26: Zeeshan Ali landed the solitary goal as PIA brushed aside NBP 1-0 in the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) match played here at the Railway Stadium on Wednesday.

The match between two Karachi-based teams on Lahore’s soil failed to live up to expectations. PIA were the first ones with a good chance but midfielder Nazeer Ahmed drove the ball straight into Amir Gul’s hands in the 17th minute.

Then NBP’s winger Adam too came close in the 20th minute but keeper Sultan Ali was very alert under the bar.

The lone goal of the match emerged in the 21st minute when striker Zeeshan Ali, a product of Keamari Mohammadan FC, snatched the ball from midfield to lob it over the rushing in keeper Amir.

Unhappy with his keeper, NBP’s coach Nasir Ismail then replaced him with Yasir bin Younus. PIA could have scored more but Hanif Majeed failed to time the ball properly in the 34th minute.

Incidentally Hanif has four brothers — Fareed and Zafar (KPT), Waheed (HBL), Atta (SSGC) — playing in the league.

NBP led by Mohammad Ashraf forced several chances but to no avail. PIA led 1-0 at interval.

The second session saw both the teams applying a defensive strategy and the match finished on a 1-0 score line.

Thursday’s fixtures: Army v Punjab Medical College at Army Stadium, Rawalpindi; Navy v Pak Elektron Limited at Naval Complex, Islamabad; Khan Research Laboratories v Wapda at KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi. Matches kick off at 3.00pm.—Agencies