KARACHI, May 10: A late charge by the KPT went in vain as two-goal Mohammad Rasool propelled the KRL into the National Challenge Cup soccer semi-finals after a deserved 2-1 victory at the CDGK Stadium on Saturday.

After remaining goalless in the first half, the KRL came out of their groove in the second session to dominate the proceedings.

While Rasool was the scorer, it was international Mohammad Essa who created the opportunity in the 54th minute. Essa cleverly set up Rasool who hardly managed to roll the ball past KPT goalkeeper Abdul Ghani despite being chased by a group of defenders near the box.

The KRL were completely a changed outfit in the second half as the experienced Essa always threatened whenever he got possession.

It was in the 63rd minute that Essa amazingly tricked past three defenders from the left but his weak left-foot effort missed the target.

Brilliantly assisted by Sajjad Hussain almost from the centre-line, Rasool was at his best as he sold several dummies to a KPT defender before rifling home his second in the 67th minute.

Sensing the danger now, KPT started making inroads but Fareed Majeed’s pass was wasted by Abdul Rahman in the 71st minute. KPT again squandered a Fareed free kick three minutes later as Rahman’s header missed the cage.

But the most impressive effort of the match came in the 82nd minute from KRL when Kamran Khan’s 20-yard swerving shot rattled the bar and tested Ghani’s nerves. It could have been the most spectacular goal had it not hit the crossbar.

Fareed came up with an impressive free kick in the 84th minute but KRL goalkeeper Amir Ali was alert under the bar.

KPT were now pressing hard to reduce the margin in front of a partisan crowd but KRL were defending solidly and never let the losers take control whenever they penetrated the box.

Perhaps to give the game the last touch and score his hat-trick, Rasool slammed yet another long drive only to see it missing the target wide.

KPT’s runs, mostly from the left, eventually paid off as Rahman drilled home a carpet shot past Amir in an opportunist strike just a minute before the stipulated time.

Two-minute injury time saw hectic efforts from both sides as KPT relentlessly tried to equalise, while KRL threatened to extend their lead with their third goal.

KRL finally walked away the victors as the scoreline didn’t change in the stoppage time.

Navy, meanwhile, also sailed into the last-four round with a 1-0 win against Habib Bank (HBL) thanks to a last-gasp match-winner by Sajid Mahmood.

After a barren first half, the sailors fired home the winner through Sajid who found the target following a Farhan Qadir pass a minute before regulation time.

Sunday’s fixtures (quarter-finals): NBP v PWD at Peoples Sports Complex; KESC v Wapda at CDGK Stadium.