PESHAWAR: Navy and Wapda recorded victories against their respective rivals in the 28th National Challenge Cup here at the Tehmas Khan Football Stadium on Monday.

In the first match played between Navy and PTV, the first half remained goalless. PTV produced some scoring chances but poor finishing of their forwards prevented any goal. Navy had a couple of chances in the first session but both the attempts by Awais Gul and Jibran went wide.

In the second half, Navy finally broke the deadlock. In a combined move, they scored a beautiful field goal through Awais in the 66th minute.

Navy adopted an aggressive mode after taking the lead and eventually doubled it in the 89th minute when right-winger Abdul Rehman scored a fine goal for them on field attempt.

Awais, Jibran and Abdul Rehman initiated a combined move from the centre and when they reached the danger zone Jibran from the left side gave a free ball to Abdul Rehman who did nothing wrong in putting it into the net.

PTV strove to reduce the margin but failed.

In the day’s second match, Wapda stunned Karachi Port Trust 3-0.

Dominating the proceedings from the very beginning, Wapda took lead in the 10th minute when Zubair Qadeer slammed a 25-yard kick.

After taking lead, Wapda increased pressure on their opponents and scored another goal in the 23rd minute through right-winger Ashfaquddin. KPT strikers, in the meantime, failed to retaliate.

Adnan Saeed scored a field goal in the second half to make it 3-0 for Wapda.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2019