U18 test matches: Pakistan down Oman 8-3 in dead rubber

Hosts triumph over Oman in fourth and last game to claim series 3-0

KARACHI: Ali Aziz’s brace and six individual goals sealed an 8-3 victory for Pakistan’s U18 team yesterday in their last match against Oman’s junior team in the four-match U18 test series at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore.

With the win, Pakistan swept the series 3-0 after drawing the first match 2-2 and winning the second and third ones 6-1 and 3-0 respectively.

Pakistan scored the first goal of the match in the seventh minute through Aziz, after which Adeel Latif found the back of the net in the 17th minute and then Aziz scored his second goal in the 23rd minute to end the first half with a 3-0 lead.



A minute after the second half’s commencement, the hosts scored their fourth goal in the 36th minute courtesy Junaid Manzoor. Oman then stepped up their game and struck twice through Rashad Hameed in the 43rd minute and Adnan Abdullah in the very next minute to cut their deficit to 4-2.

Pakistan subsequently regrouped to hammer two goals in the 50th and 52nd minute through Khairullah and Afraz.

Then followed a spate of goals with Abdullah Babar scoring in the 60th minute followed by Ahmed Nadeem’s 61st-minute strike with Oman’s Adnan Abdullah pulling one back in the same minute to end the match 8-3 in Pakistan’s favour.



Pakistan manager and head coach Kamran Ashraf was a picture of satisfaction. “My team’s coordination has improved with every game,” he told The Express Tribune. “The side appears well prepared for the Boys U18 Asia Cup starting in Bangladesh in a few days’ time. They emerged the better team even with no international exposure before this series.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2016.

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