KARACHI, Jan 15: National Bank of Pakistan (NB) and KESC gained convincing victories on Wednesday to march into the pre-quarterfinals of the All Pakistan Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto football tournament.

In another match of the day Habib Bank Limited (HBL) were held to a 1-1 draw by Young Pishin.

Four goals in a space of 12 minutes took NBP past Burma Mohammadan who surprisingly took the lead through a 39th minute strike by Shahzad Arif.

Nasir Ismail put the match on level keel in the very next minute and the teams finished all square 1-1 at the half time.

NBP’s goal onslaught began in the 60th minute when Nasir Ismail struck his second goal. M. Ismail (62nd), Misbah Hussain (68th) and M.Sadiq (72) turned the tide in favour of NBP. A 75th strike by M.Yousuf was the only consolation for the losers.

Fancied KESC led 2-0 at half time and then struck thrice in the second half to crush Young Shaheen 5-0.

Habib Ghulam (9th minute) and Mohammed Javed (43) were on target for in the first half.

Aurangzeb (72, 88),and Abdul Waheed (87) completed the scoring.

HBL looked the likely winners against a spirited DFA Pishin as they led 1-0 till the 88th minute thanks to a superbly struck free-kick by Gulzar Ahmed in the dying moments of the first session.

But in a last-ditch effort the visitors snatched the equalizer when Ziauddin found the net.

Today’s fixtures: SSGC v New Hazara Club, Quetta 1.30 p.m.; Balochistan Police v Malir National 3.30 p.m.