SGP lift Essa Lab Departmental Football title

KARACHI: Sindh Government Press (SGP) defeated National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) 5-4 in penalty shootout to lift the trophy of the 1st Essa Lab Departmental Football tournament which concluded here at KMC Stadium on Sunday.

The game was 2-2 draw at the end of regulation time. However, SGP did a fine job on penalties to earn a well-deserved victory. The credit goes to SGP gloveman Mohammad Ismail who stopped NBP’s first penalty taken by Suleman Rahim. The same outcome helped SGP in the end to edge past the bankers.

For SGP Mohammad Sameer, Junaid Juni, Ali Khan Niazi, Nouman Dodo and Usman Manzoor converted their penalties. For NBP Adnan Ashraf, Sanaullah, Maqbool Ahmed and Mohammad Umar hit from the spot.

Earlier, an exciting game was witnessed in the scheduled time with both sides putting in concerted efforts. Following incisive rallies, Ali Khan put SGP ahead in the 40th minute and they were leading 1-0 at half-time.

In the 54th minute, Shakir Lashari doubled SGP’s lead and it seemed NBP would not be able to bring parity. However, they put a lot of pressure on SGP from both wings and were able to level the scores that stretched the game to penalties.

Zain-ul-Aabdeen reduced NBP’s deficit when he landed a goal from the spot before Misbah-ul-Hasan’s header in the stoppage time enabled the bankers to level the scores.

Iqbal Mohammad Ali, member National Assembly Standing Committee on sports, gave away the trophies and cash awards to both sides. The winners were handed over Rs20,000 while the runners-up got Rs10,000.