Debutants PACA hold Afghan FC to 2-2 draw [The News]

Sports Correspondent – The News

KARACHI: Debutants Pak Afghan Clearing Agency (PACA) held Afghan FC to a 2-2 draw in a tough match of the Pakistan Premier Football League here at the KPT Stadium on Wednesday.

With one point each, both teams moved to five points from three outings.

PACA, who had stunned Muslim FC 2-1 in their first game, took the lead through Sirajuddin in the tenth minute.

However, three minutes later Afghan FC brought the parity through discarded international Jadeed Khan Pathan.

In the 37th minute, Niamatullah put Afghan FC ahead with a fine field effort. But at the stroke of half time Ahmed Shah struck for PACA to once again level the scores.

After the breather tough battle was witnessed but no side could add to their tally.

“We missed several open net chances. And once we were extremely unlucky when skipper Zahid Hameed’s volley hit the pole,” PACA co-owner Mohammad Essa told ‘The News’.

Essa was also not satisfied with the referring standard. “Believe me the first goal against us was a clear off-side and it was the lineman that made the blunder,” said former Pakistan captain.

Afghan FC manager Adam Khan said that he was satisfied with his team’s performance. “Overall I am happy with the way the team played,” Adam told this correspondent. “We could have won the match had we not been let down by our gloveman Sajid. We conceded two goals due to his mistakes. In the second half we replaced him with Fazal-e-Haq and he did a fine job under the cage,” Adam added.

“Today we mostly played with midfield and frontline,” he said.

He said that they were enjoying their matches in Karachi as people from Chaman living in the city had turned up to watch them play.

After the authorities limited the league to Karachi and Lahore, the Balochistan-based outfits are playing their home matches outside their province for the first time in the history of the league.

According to the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) the match between defending champions Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) and Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) which was scheduled to be held in Lahore on Thursday (today) has been postponed because of the engagement of most of the KRL players in the national team’s camp for the tour of the Philippines.

Today’s fixture: Baloch FC v Muslim FC (KPT Stadium, Karachi).