KARACHI, Jan 27: Hyderabad broke sweat before cruising to a 4-1 win over Kalat in an ill-tempered national hockey championship regional qualifying round match, which was marred by controversial umpiring and exchange of foul language at the Hockey Club of Pakistan on Sunday.

It all started three minutes from the end when Kalat scored and on Hyderabad’s protest, umpire Shakeel Ahmad signalled for a goal but later reversed the decision when his colleague ran towards him and suggested to disallow the goal.

This time Kalat were displeased and furious at this change of mind, especially the burly figure of Imtiaz Shah who created quite a scene and abused the umpires. He had to be pacified by Kalat officials and two of their supporters who also entered the pitch to ask the player to behave, although they were not authorised.

The play resumed after a seven-minute stoppage but as the final whistle blew, Imtiaz went berserk and aggressively rushed towards the Hyderabad team coach Khaliq Khan, threatening to teach the official a lesson before being overpowered by Kalat officials who snubbed the player and told him to behave.

Earlier during the game, at one stage Imtiaz had to be stopped by his officials and team mates when he yelled and abused Khaliq, saying the official had been constantly using foul language against him from the bench.

“Our player scored the goal when the ball went into the net off a defender’s feet. It was either a goal or at least a penalty corner. Umpire Shakeel gave the goal, but we were shocked to see the other umpire Faisal Ismail running towards Shakeel and asked him to disallow the goal.

“He [Faisal] had nothing to do with the issue as Shakeel didn’t call him for his opinion. We now want a re-match. It was unjust and unfair because we belong to a small province,” Kalat captain Mohammad Ali told Dawn.

The skipper alleged that Khaliq had been constantly abusing the Kalat players on which Imtiaz reacted aggressively.

“The umpire [Faisal] was also bucking up the Hyderabad players, guiding them what they should do. He was biased and that was totally unacceptable. Can an umpire tell players how to play,” asked Ali.

However, Kalat manager Abdul Ghaffar said he would not be lodging any protest on the decision.

The game started with an Adil Rasheed goal in the ninth minute before Kalat cancelled out the efforts with a Mohammad Nadeem strike in the 21st minute.

Hyderabad went 2-1 up when Adil netted his second in the 45th minute, while Saleem Jr made it 3-1 in the 60th minute. The winners grabbed their fourth through Adil four minutes later.

In another match, Makran got the better of Sibi 2-0.

Asghar Ali opened the scoring in the third minute, while Waqar doubled the lead in the 53rd minute.

Karachi Whites had to work hard before recording a 6-3 victory over Naseerabad.

Karachi Whites scored twice through Zubair Ahmad before Naseerabad levelled via Naeemuddin and Mohammad Shahzad. The local outfit made it 3-2 with an Uzair goal, while Junaid Iqbal converted a penalty stroke and Ebad scored off a short corner. Naseerabad again reduced the margin with a Fahad strike, while Karachi Whites finished off with an Uzair goal.

In a totally one-sided fixture, Karachi Colours thrashed Zhob 11-0.

Arif Hanif slammed home four goals (seven, 15th, 31st, 66th minute), while Yasir Ghaffar (23rd and 30th minutes) and Ammar Raza (33rd and 38th minutes) got two each and Mohammad Atif (27th minute), Fareed (44th minute) and Bilal Ayub (69th minute) got one goal apiece.

Monday’s fixtures: Kalat v Loralai at 12.30pm; Larkana v Sukkur at 2.00pm; Karachi Whites v Mirpurkhas at 3.30pm.