KARACHI, Dec 12 Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) became the 18th champion of the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) when they registered a solitary goal win over Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) at the Korangi Baloch Stadium here on Saturday.
Doing so they outpaced Army, who also registered a 2-1 win over Karachi Port Trust (KPT) at the Peoples Sports Complex on the day. Both the teams managed 60 points from their quota of 26 matches but KRL overwhelmed Army on better goal average as their goals of 40-8 is 10 goals better than Army's 36-14.
Defending champions Wapda, despite having a match in hand, have no chance of catching up with the top two on the points table as they only have 56 points from 25 matches and a win in their last match will only take them to 59 points.
Their only interest in Sunday's 182nd and final match will be to beat or hold Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) to a draw in order to topple Navy (57 points) and secured the third spot.
Meanwhile, KRL have completed a double as they also won the 19th National Football Challenge Cup (NFCC) at Hyderabad in April to represent Pakistan in the 6th AFC President's Cup 2010.
The all-important goal during the KRL-PIA clash was scored by Chaman-born Kalimullah in the 42nd minute.
In the Army-KPT match, Mohammad Imran fired the winner for Army. Right-full Mohammad Khabab landed the opener in the 22nd minute to give the soldiers the much-needed goal. Army kept it intact till interval but KPT's Mohammad bin Younus restored parity in the 62nd minute. However, five minutes later, Imran's decisive strike awarded a stunning blow to the port men.Sunday's fixture KESC v Wapda at Peoples Sports Complex at 2.00pm. —Agencies
