LAHORE, Nov 30: Defending champions Wapda continued with their march towards their seventh national title when they thrashed PTV 5-1 in the PPFL match played at the PSB Ground, Islamabad on Sunday.
In the day’s other two matches, Navy drew 0-0 with Punjab Medical College (PMC) at Naval Complex, Islamabad, while Army struck twice in the second session to beat Pak Elektron Limited (PEL) 2-0 at the Army Stadium, Rawalpindi.
Wapda went up with one of the fastest goals of the event when their Faisalabad-born slightly-built striker Abdul Abbas steered the ball into the left corner in the 97th second.
Abbas added another in the 43rd minute through solo effort. In between midfielder Zakir Hussain’s long-range drive beat the keeper all ends up. Wapda led 3-0 at interval and added two more goals in the second session. Winger Qamar Zaman put the issue beyond doubt with a brilliant finish after a fine one-two with Abbas in the 61st minute and the current Pakistan vice-captain Imran Niazi made it 5-0 when he raced on to a ball from Naveed Akram in the 64th minute to do the rest. PTV failed to resist the tense pressure and struck their consolation goal through their Baran Shah-born spearhead Sanaullah in the 80th minute.
The Navy-PMC clash saw both sides’ goalkeepers in fine form and giving nothing away as they registered the event’s 16th goalless draw into PFF’s files. Faisalabad-born keeper Zahid Iqbal of PMC thwarted at least three sure chances while Navy’s Ishaq Ahmed kept alert at his end.
Meanwhile, the Lahore-based PEL did well to stop Army in the first half, which was like a big sigh of relief for their coach Asghar Anjum and skipper Ijaz Sarfraz.
But Army took the game away in the second session by scoring two goals. Midfielder Sharjeel Vicky brought an end to the goal draught with a lovely drive from the edge of the area in the 58th minute and it was left to Olympian Adnan Bari to seal the fate of the match in the 79th minute.
PEL failed to reduce arrears as their strikers Din Badshah, Muzaffar Ali and Asmatullah were out of touch. PEL suffered agony in the later stages of the match when Farooq Rehman had to leave the field after a second yellow card.
Monday fixture: Afghan FC v PIA at Government School Ground, Chaman, at 3.00pm.—Agencies