LAHORE: Palestine scored twice late on to break Pakistan’s resistance and record a 2-0 win in their international friendly at the Punjab Stadium on Sunday.

After keeping Palestine at bay for 89 minutes, Pakistan’s defence was finally breached in the final minute of regulation time when Murad Said scored with a brilliant header to give the visitors the lead.

Two minutes into added time, Palestine sealed the win when Abdullah Jaber scored, tapping the ball into an empty net after goalkeeper Muzammil Hussain failed to deal properly with a cross.

Pakistan coach Mohammad Al Shamlan lamented Pakistan’s loss of concentration near the end of the match but was pleased with his side’s performance.

“The team is showing signs of improvement and its a young lot which we’re looking to prepare for the future,” the Bahraini task-master said after the match.

“We have noted our shortcomings and we need to work on improving the technique of some players.”

The victory was well deserved for the Palestinians after they had dominated the home side for large swathes of the game.

Opportunities were few and far between for Pakistan with Mansoor Khan being wasteful with a a couple of half-chances that fell to him.

“We played better in the second-half,” Palestine captain Ramzi Saleh said. “Pakistan gave a good account of themselves but our experience saw us prevail.”

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2014