KARACHI, Jan 23: The seventh HBL Karachi United Schools Championship (KUSC) final saw Nixor College coming from behind to beat The City School (TCS) PAF 3-2 in extra-time at the Baloch Mujahid Stadium on Sunday.

Before the final, AKHSS won third place after beating St Patrick’s High School 1-0 thanks to Yasir Shah’s lone goal at the same venue.

In the final, Nixor College came from 0-2 down at half time to stun TCS-PAF Chapter 3-2 in extra-time to be crowned champions. A goal each from captain Naveed Subhan (18th min) and Mohammad Afridi (29th min) gave TCS-PAF a remarkable lead before the break with Nixor’s defence in tatters.

Nixor College came back strongly in the second half as they went on all-out attack orchestrated by their team captain and Karachi United FC star Kareem Kerai as he scored from 20 yards out in the 41st minute to reduce the deficit to 2-1. The goal gave Nixor College an added boost as they kept pilling pressure on TCS-PAF’s defence.

Deep in stoppage time, Nixor College won a penalty due to a hand-ball infringement from TCS-PAF’s defender during a corner kick. Kareem Kerai stepped up but TCS-PAF’s goalkeeper Waleed Sherdil saved his penalty, only for Nixor striker Muzammil Farishta to quickly score from the rebound to equalise in the 71st minute.

The 2-2 score forced extra time with two halves of seven-and-a-half minutes each. Nixor College again struck as Muzammil Farishta’s speculative cross got an unfortunate deflection of TCS-PAF’s defender and Waleed Sherdil failed to keep the ball from crossing the line. Nixor’s 3-2 lead remained in extra time as TCS-PAF failed to overcome the pressure as Nixor College were deservingly crowned champions at the final whistle.

The matches were supervised by Adnan Khan, Habibullah, Farrukh Riaz and Babar Khan with Abdul Karim as the match commissioner and Mohammad Shamim as the referees’ inspector.

Nixor College’s captain Kareem Kerai won both Man of the Match and KUSC 2011-12 Best Player awards for his outstanding leadership and football skills. Nixor’s coach Mohammad Ali was given the Best Coach award, and TCS-PAF’s striker Shabir Ali Rizvi got the Golden Boot award with his eighth goals in the event.