SSGC, Army in semi-final showdown, holders DFA West face PIA [Dawn]

SSGC, Army in semi-final showdown, holders DFA West face PIA [Dawn]

KARACHI: Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) will face Pakistan Army for a place in the final of the All Pakistan Aman Football Tournament on Sunday with holders DFA West meeting Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in the other semi-final here at the Peoples Sports Complex.

SSGC staged a second-half comeback on Friday evening as they overcame Karachi Port Trust (KPT) 3-1 in the quarter-finals while Army scraped past National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) 1-0 in the night match as the final quartet of the 32-team tournament was decided.

DFA West had earlier set up a clash with PIA, who had booked their semi-final berth on Thursday night, after beating Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police 5-3 in the afternoon match.

KPT had taken the lead just past the half hour mark through Naveed but Mohammed sparked SSGC’s comeback, scoring twice in the space of 13 minutes to put them 2-1 up in the 67th before Imran senior added a third in the 74th.

Army and NBP had a close-fought match, the winner coming on the stroke of half-time through Zahid Naveed.

DFA West raced into a 3-0 lead against KP Police by the 23rd minute after goals by Sameer Chandio, Habib-ur-Rehman and Mohammd Amin.

Habib added his second near the end of the first half but Razaullah gave KP Police a glimmer of hope with two goals in the space of six minutes to make it 4-2 in the 58th.

Amin then his his second — and sealed DFA West’s passage into the last four — in the 74th with Raza scoring a consolation four minutes later to complete his hat-trick.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2016