KARACHI: Arif Nawaz’s solitary strike shepherded Pakistan Air Force (PAF) to a 1-0 victory over Navy in their match of the 9th Pakistan Premier Football League here at the Naval Sports Complex in Karsaz on Saturday.
Nawaz, who has been impressive this season, struck the winner in the eighth minute to guide PAF to 43 points from 23 meetings.
“You know our players were not in practice as we have been forced to gather them after the authorities revised the schedule due to National Games but I am happy that our youngsters played well today,” PAF coach Mohammad Arshad told ‘The News’.
“It is a crucial round for us and we will have to make extra efforts to finish at a much decent position,” said Arshad, a former international.
Navy’s experienced defender Mohammad Jabbar said that their frontline did not convert their chances. “PAF got the only chance and converted that while we created several opportunities but squandered them,” he said.
Striker Mansoor Khan from PAF, who had played a key role in Pakistan’s title winning triumph in the SAFF Under-16 Football Championship in Nepal last year, was declared the best player of the match.
The defeat left Navy trailing at 23 points from 23 meetings.
This was the first time that Navy played on their home ground. Initially, for technical reasons the said venue had been dropped by the authorities and Navy had to opt for KPT Stadium as their home venue.
But after that Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) showed some leniency and they not only changed the home venues of former champions Army and PAF according to the teams’ wishes but also permitted Navy to host their five games in the final round at their own venue here at Karsaz.
On Sunday (today), Wohaib FC will face PMC Athletico at the UMT Ground in Lahore while WAPDA are scheduled to face Muslim FC in Chaman. But ‘The News’ has learnt that WAPDA, also four-time former champions, have forfeited all their three outings they were supposed to play in Balochistan due to security reasons.
A WAPDA official told this correspondent on Saturday that they had not forfeited their meetings in Balochistan but they had requested the PFF that they should be provided security as it would be difficult for them to play in Chaman and Quetta as in the past too not only their team but some other outfits also had to face security problems. Navy have already forfeited their matches which they had to play in Chaman and Quetta.
From: The News
9th Pakistan Premier Football League-2012 (9th PPFL-2012)
Match Results (Saturday, December 8, 2012)
Match # 175
PAF beat Navy 1:0 @ 14:30 PST @ PNS Karsaz, Karachi, Pakistan
Scorer PAF: Muhammad Arif Nawaz (FW) 1 Goal @ 8 Mnt.
Best Scorer: Muhammad Arif Nawaz (FW) of PAF
Best Player: Mansoor Khan (FW) of PAF
Match Commissioner: Ali Nawaz Baloch Cell # 0300-2146038
9th Pakistan Premier Football League (9th PPFL-2012)
Tomorrow Fixture :( Sunday, December 9, 2012)
Match # 34 Wohaib FC Vs PMC FC @ 14:00 PST @ UMT Football Ground, Lahore, Pakistan
Match # 176 Muslim FC Vs WAPDA @ 14:30 PST @ Govt. High School Ground, Chaman, Pakistan.