KARACHI: As many as 15 goals were scored in three different Pakistan Football Federation (PFFL) matches on Friday as the Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation Committee ordered teams to swap handshakes for fist-bumps due to the global coronavirus outbreak.

“Following the coronavirus outbreak, the Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation Committee has ordered teams to avoid handshakes and allowed fist-bumps only,” the PFF said in a news release.

Pakistan Railways edged Atletico Madrid Lahore in a five-goal thriller in Lahore while Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) beat Pakistan Steel 5-3 in the highest-scoring game of the day in Karachi. In Quetta, Pakistan Police beat Social Welfare Team (SWT) 2-0.

Railways swept into a 3-0 lead in the Group ‘C’ Departmental Leg opener at the Railways Football Stadium with goals from Hamza (29th minute), Wajid Khan (59th minute) and Adeel (70th minute).

Atletico, playing for the first time in the second tier, scored twice in the space of four minutes through Barkat Ali and Zaheer Ahmed to make it 3-2 in the 82nd but couldn’t find the leveller.

The other two teams in Group ‘C’ are Masha United and Hazara Coal Company.

The top two teams from each of the three Departmental Leg groups advance to the final round with the top three teams to gain promotion to the Pakistan Premier Football League.

At the Drigh Road Union FC Ground here, Sudir opened the scoring in the 25th minute and Naveed doubled GPA’s advantage in the next minute before Naveed Raza got one for Steel in the 34th minute.

GPA then scored three times in three minutes through Parvez, Wajid and Naveed to take a 5-1 lead in the 42nd minute. Abdul Wahab (66th minute) and Akram (89th minute) got two goals back for Steel.

The other two teams in Group ‘A’ are Karachi United and Sindh Government Press.

Police got their second successive win in Group ‘B’ after goals from Naseem (45th minute) and Yousuf (87th minute) gave them victory over SWT.

Police, who won 2-1 against Pak-Afghan Clearing Agency in their opening match, have six points and are five ahead of Insaf Afghan Goods Trading Company and Aqua Pure Water Company in the five-team group.

The club leg, featuring five teams, begins in Lahore from March 13. The winner of the club leg will also gain promotion to the PPFL.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2020