KARACHI, May 24: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) reached the final of the National Challenge Cup after they edged Wapda 1-0 in a nail-biting semi-final on Friday.

A place in the Sunday’s final means Nasir Ismail’s men can win the country’s premier cup event two decades after their last triumph when they defeated Pakistan Steel in the 1993 final and which remains their sole major trophy so far.

“It is great to be in the final after such a long time,” Nasir told Dawn after the match. “The team has come with great motivation and hopefully we’ll be able to win the event.”

At the Dring Football Stadium in Bahawalpur, NBP started the brighter and had a number of chances in the first quarter of the match which they failed to convert.

The goal duly arrived in the 23rd minute when Atiqullah scored after a sensational cross by Farooq Shah from the by-line found him after sailing over the top of the Wapda defence leaving him with the simplest of tasks of nodding it over the line.

Wapda tried to come back into the game but it was NBP who had the best chance when they caught out their defence with a swift counter-attack and Abdul Aziz was felled in the box in the 67th minute.

Aziz steeped up to take the penalty but Wapda custodian Muzammil blocked the shot to keep his side in the game. With time running out, Wapda continued their relentless attacks on the NBP goal but their defence stood firm to set a final against either Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) or Pakistan Air Force (PAF) who were playing in the other semi-final later on Friday night.

“Because of our earlier misses we had to endure a few nervous moments at the end,” Nasir said. “But I’m proud of my players who stood firm to seal a place in the final.”