Army toil to win, Navy hammer KPT

KARACHI: Former two-time champions Army surged to the summit after snatching a 1-0 win from little-known Bahawalpur’s Ashraf Sugar Mills in their outing of the 12th Pakistan Premier Football League at Punjab Stadium, Lahore, on Monday.

Having mostly rookies, Army had to labour hard before Ali Reza hit the winner for them in the 87th minute to ensure three crucial points.The outcome pushed soldiers to the top spot with 19 points from nine matches.Army’s victory also forced Pakistan Air Force (PAF) to come down to second spot with 18 points.

The loss left ASM reeling at the bottom with just three points to their credit.Meanwhile, after recording a win the other day following a series of losses Karachi Port Trust (KPT) once again lost their way and were whipped 5-1 by Navy in a one-sided show.

“It was a poor day for us. We lack in defence and this is a huge issue for us at the moment,” KPT coach Fareed Majeed told ‘The News’.However, he was quick to add that if they were able to perform in their remaining two matches in their Lahore round then things would again become good for them. “We are to face KRL and Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) in the next few days. If we played well in those games we could bounce back,” the coach said.

Navy, who completely dominated the game, went ahead through a fine strike from Abdul Rehman at the stroke of half time.

Two minutes into the second half Naved Ahmed hit one nicely to double Navy’s lead. Saddam then made it 3-0 in the 55th minute before Abdul Rehman scoring his second in the 70th minute to add to the misery of the oppositions. Hassan Faiz, ten minutes later, struck fifth goal for Navy. In the 90th minute Junaid Qadir landed the consolation goal for KPT.

The defeat left KPT trailing at the 13th spot out of 15 teams with just four points from eight matches.Navy moved to eighth place with 11 points.