Muslim FC clinch fifth win in football league

Chaman host first PPFL match of the season.

KARACHI: Muslim FC defeated Baloch FC 2-0 as Chaman hosted its first match of the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) this season while PIA beat KESC 4-2 in Karachi.

After a goal-less first-half, Mohammad Hanif scored in the 56th minute before Hayatullah doubled Muslim FC’s lead in the 86th minute.

The club’s fifth win of the tournament has earned them 19 points in 10 games and puts them in seventh place while Baloch FC languish in the 13th spot in the 16-team table.

Meanwhile, match commissioner Mohammad Samad said that the pitch condition, the reason why Chaman was unable to host a match during the season, was the same. “The pitch is pretty much the same as it was three months ago,” Samad told The Express Tribune. “We really don’t know why the matches weren’t staged here before. But now that the PPFL has returned to Chaman, we witnessed a massive crowd here.”

Samad believed the Pakistan Football Federation was concerned with the law-and-order situation in Chaman and that could be the reason behind the delay.

PIA overcome KESC

PIA were indebted to KESC’s Jalil Ahmed, whose own goal in the 20th minute, gave them an early lead. Shakir Lashari, who has had a good run in the tournament, scored in the 51st minute before Ali Ahsaan made it 3-0 nine minutes later. Ali Adeel Shah added another one for PIA in the 65th minute as the match slipped away from KESC. Mohammad Rasool (68th) and Mohamad Khan (83rd) scored but  by then it was too late.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2011.