KARACHI: In the end, it was a goal by a proven striker that decided the game.

Mohammad Rasool’s first-half goal was enough to seal a 1-0 victory for K-Electric against the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) opener at the KPT Stadium here on Saturday.

“That’s the difference a top goal-scorer can make,” NBP head coach Nasir Ismail told Dawn after his side’s narrow loss. “He got one chance and he took it beautifully.”

With a minute to go before half-time, Rasool received the ball inside the box, dribbled it past one defender before rounding NBP goalkeeper Mohammed Umer and slotting it into the empty net.

“Once I went past the defender, Umer was closing in so I flicked the ball past him and once that was done the rest was easy,” Rasool told Dawn.

“It’s great to get off the mark in the first game of the season and hopefully there will be many more goals to come.”

The game was K-Electric’s first test as they hope to end Khan Research Laboratories’ (KRL) three-year stranglehold on the PPFL title.

Led by former Pakistan playmaker Mohammed Essa, K-Electric are hot favourites to win the 11th edition of the country’s elite league and their skipper said the victory provided them with the necessary boost to fulfil their ambition.

“It is a good way to boost our morale,” Essa told Dawn after the game. “We have some players missing and once they are with the team, we’ll be even more stronger.”

K-Electric, still waiting for the NOC’s for their Nigerian imports Oludeyi Abayomi Sunday and Wilson, also had Mohammad Riaz missing with the winger on international duty at the Asian Games but began brightly.

Essa and Rasool were constantly probing the NBP backline with the bankers missing influential defender Faisal Iqbal due to injury.

Despite Faisal’s absence, the NBP defenders weren’t offering space to Essa or Rasool to thread in the decisive pass with both attackers forced to pass with their backs to goal in the final third.

K-Electric had to wait for their first shot on goal till the 19th minute when Essa fired straight into the arms of Umer.

With both Faisal and experienced frontman Farooq Shah missing, NBP captain Abdul Aziz came close to breaking the deadlock in the 34th when his free-kick went narrowly wide.

Two minutes later, Aziz missed a glorious chance when the ball fell to him after a ricochet in the box but he fired well wide despite having only the goalkeeper to beat.

NBP were almost immediately made to pay for their profligacy as a cross by Abdul Rehman, intended for Rasool, looped just over Umer’s goal.

Rasool, though, made no mistake when he got his first clear chance in the 44th to give K-Electric the lead.

With NBP looking for an equaliser in the second-half, Nasir threw on Mohammed Muunir to liven things up but that also meant they risked being stretched at the back.

With quarter of an hour to go, Essa forced a stunning finger-tip save from Umer before Jalil volleyed Rehman’s cross from point-blank before a frenetic final few minutes ensued.

NBP almost got the leveller in the final minute but Yasir Sabir shot straight at K-Electric goalkeeper Jahangir.

At the other end, Essa came close to scoring K-Electric’s second but his shot with the outside of his foot went narrowly wide after being fed by Rasool.

Jahangir, though, secured all three points for K-Electric with a stunning save to deny Misbah-ul-Hasan from scoring with a delightful acrobatic right-footed volley deep into injury-time.

“We had our chances near the end but we were unlucky,” Nasir said. “Our performance, however, was pleasing and we can hope to kick off our campaign with a good result in our next match against Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Wednesday.”

PIA open their season against the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) on Sunday.

Published in Dawn, September 21st , 2014