KARACHI, March 7: Pakistan crumbled against teeth-gritting fight by The Netherlands as the Europeans levelled the four-match junior hockey series 2-2 with a deserved 3-1 victory on Sunday.

The home side lost the first game 1-2, won the second and third 5-3 and 4-0 before Saturday's defeat at Hockey Club of Pakistan. Surprisingly, the organizers awarded the winners' trophy to the Dutch side, although Pakistan had a better goal average having 11 goals, while the Netherlands scored eight.

The Netherlands knocked the heart out of Pakistan, although they were reduced to only nine men in the second half when Balder Bomans was controversially given a temporary suspension by Pakistani umpire Mohsin Ali.

The Dutch Roderick Huber was also shown yellow a minute after Bomans suspension, forcing the visiting side to play with nine players. Pakistan, having 25-man pool of players as compared to 16-member Dutch squad, were taken aback as the tourists overcame the sweltering heat to take a whirlwind start forcing no less than three penalty corners in the opening four minutes.

The kind of pressure from the tour party against Pakistan could be judged from the fact that they were awarded five short corners in the 14 minutes of the first half.

Their hard work finally paid off in the 14th minute when Dutch umpire Michiel Bruning signalled for a penalty stroke after a serious foul by a Pakistan defender in the circle.

Klass Staatsen stepped in and calmly converted the stroke to give his side slim but morale-boosting 1-0 lead. The most alarming was disappointing penalty corner conversion rate of Pakistan despite two experts in the line-up - Imran Warsi and Mohammad Imran. Only one goal came off penalty corner from nine short corners.

Pakistan's influential winger Akhtar Ali came close to scoring in the 16th minute after an Arif Ali rebound only to see his effort being blocked by alert Dutch goallkeeper Jaap Stock Mann.

Pakistan wasted an opportunity when Imran Warsi's push rattled the bar on a second penalty corner in the 17th minute. The solitary goal through short corner was netted through Mohammad Khalid off an indirect drill in the 18th minute.

The visitors were once again up when Staatsen converted another penalty stroke to make it 2-1 in the 18th minute. Teun Rohof, who was continuously harassing the Pakistan defences, was denied by goalkeeper Adeel Anwar in the 21st minute.

A yellow card to Arif Ali in the 41st minute reduced Pakistan players to ten. Staatsen threatened the opposition again by pressing for the third but his reverse flick went wide off the target in the 49th minute.

Pakistanis, though, attacked but could never find the target, Akhtar squandering a chance in the 50th minute. A neat one-two between Akhtar and Tariq Aziz which started from the midfield in the 53rd minute ended on Kashif Yaqoob missing the opportunity.

Rohof brought joy on the Dutch bench by finishing off the job with an excellent effort after a Mohammad Imran deflection came off the woodwork in the 55th minute.

Bomans left the field after Mohsin showed him a yellow in the 58th minute, while Huber was given marching orders the next minute by Bruning. The 67th minute saw exchange of hot words between the two sides after a penalty corner to Pakistan during which Dutch Tammo Gunst was injured and had to leave the field.

Pakistan, however, failed to take advantage of two men's absence as they made inroads but returned empty-handed

Pakistan Juniors: