KARACHI: PMC Athletico edged bottom side Wohaib FC 1-0 on Sunday to keep alive their hopes of avoiding relegation from the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL).

Mohammad Yasir scored the deciding goal in the 76th minute of their match at the UMT Football Ground in Lahore to put his side on 17 points from 20 games, a point from safety.

The last two finishers in the PPFL are relegated to the Pakistan Football Federation League (PFFL) and Wohaib FC look certain to be playing their football in the second-tier, having accumulated just eight points from 20 outings.

Victory for second from bottom PMC helped them pull within a point of 14th-placed Habib Bank Limited and two away from Baloch FC who are above HBL. PMC also have two games on hand over the two sides above them in the PPFL standings.

There was no action in the other game scheduled to be held at the Government Football Ground in Chaman after Wapda failed to turn up for their second match in a row in Balochistan which resulted in Muslim FC being awarded a walkover.

The result meant Muslim FC moved provisionally into second place on 47 points from 25 games, one point behind league leaders Army, who have played 23 games.

Defending champions Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) are third on 46 points from 18 matches.

The race for promotion to the PPFL, meanwhile, hot up as the PFFL enters the ‘Group of Five’ round in its departmental leg on Monday.

Five departmental sides namely Pakistan Steel, Pakistan Railways, Pak-Afghan Clearing Agency (PACA), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Higher Education Commission (HEC) will be involved in round-robin action to determine which team gets promoted to the PPFL next season.

Monday’s fixtures: PPFL: HBL v PAF (Peoples Football Stadium, Karachi); Baloch FC v Army (Government High School Ground, Chaman).

PFFL: Pak Steel v Railways (Railways Football Stadium, Lahore); PACA v SSGC (FAME Club Ground, Lahore).