Army record 7th consecutive win in Premier Soccer
Bureau Report

LAHORE—Pakistan Army, the two-time National Champion maintained their supremacy in the third Pakistan Premier Soccer League (52nd National Football Championship) 2006 when they edged out Lahore’s stubborn Wohaib Club 1-0 at Army Sports Complex, Rawalpindi, while the two matches at Karachi ended in draw.
Army were expected to win by a higher margin, but Wohaib FC’s keeper Zahid Nadeem and back-four Muhammad Ahmed, Muhammad Illyas, Rana Fakhar and Ali Asghar stopped their onslaught, said a media release here Tuesday. The soldiers were able to tuck only one goal in the 67th minute through their international striker Babar Mehmood, who is now captain of the Army team. It was the seventh successive win for Army who managed nine goals in the show and had yet to concede a single goal. It was thus a moral victory for Lahore’s local club, who lost to same team 0-10 on October 12, 2005 in the previous edition.
The match commissioner was Muhammad Zaman while Shahid Ahmed Khan acted as referee assessor. Hidayat Ullah supervised the match, assisted on the line by Amir Iqbal, Chaman Khan.
Meanwhile at Karachi’s Peoples Sports Complex, both matches ended in draw. National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) steered 70 th minute goal through double SAF Games Gold medalist Abdul Aziz to draw with Afghan Club 11.
The Chaman outfit was hoping for victory following winger Nasrullah’s 20th minute but Aziz denied them three points with late equalizer. Afghan Club is still looking for its first win in the 11 team show.
The 2-2 scoreline was registered in Habib Bank Limited - KESC encounter. HBL were 1-0 up at interval with midfielder Bilal Ahmed giving them 26 th minute lead. KESC pulled one back in the 60th minute through winger Sohail Ishaq and thirteen minutes later KESC made it 2-1 when international Aurangzeb faked his way in for a dazzling goal.