KARACHI Pakistan Army created the biggest upset of the national hockey championship when they handed a shock 4-3 defeat to favourites National Bank (NBP) at Hockey Club of Pakistan on Tuesday.
Having a line-up full of Pakistan stars, NBP remained unimpressive throughout the match which was marred by controversial and poor umpiring owing to which Army were deprived of a goal.
The match erupted into life when Pakistan ace forward Haseem Khan found the target in the 20th minute for the bankers who still seemed to be reeling under earlier 4-0 defeat against Wapda.
Haseem extended the lead when he again slammed home in the 32nd minute. The soldiers came back with a renewed vigour to reduce the margin two minutes before the lemons through Muhammad Rizwan who was the pick of the Army attack. Rizwan completed his double to restore parity in the 38th minute.
Army seemed to have scored their third goal six minutes into second half when they scored on a deflection and umpire Takreem signaled for a goal. But as NBP players including Pakistan captain Zeeshan Ashraf and Tariq Aziz pushed the umpire while “protesting” against the decision, Takreem later changed his decision after consulting his colleague.
The change of mind resulted in reaction by Army players as this time they protested against the reversal of decision, but the umpires opted to stick to their decisions. In another surprise decision, Takreem showed a green instead of a yellow card to Tariq for jostling the umpire, while he took no action against NBP skipper Zeeshan.
Interestingly, the clock, which was stopped because of stoppage, never restarted which went unnoticed by the field jury.
Undaunted by the decisions of the umpires, super-fit Army kept their domination over their disjointed opponents with some fine moves and superior physical fitness.
As the bankers, coached by Pakistan Hockey Federation associate secretary Rana Mujahid, did not slow their pace and failed to keep control over the ball, Army rattled when they eventually went 3-2 up with a Mohammad Safeer goal in the 46th minute.
NBP retaliated but Haseem's effort rebounded off Army goalkeeper Rizwan, while Akhtar Ali's try on the rebound try missed the target despite a good opportunity.
Buzzing around in attack, Army took the wind out of NBP sails when they fired home their fourth in the 58th minute as Khalil Ahmad's perfect cross pass was well connected by Kashif Ali.
Struggling against soldiers, the bankers heaved a sigh of relief when Tariq reduced margin to score third for his side in the 64th minute. NBP, having no less then 10 Pakistan current or former players, rued when Tariq's low hit was well saved by Rizwan and defender made a neat clearance.
As a “gesture of goodwill” the Army team marched to the NBP bench after the match and saluted the opponent players and their officials.
Wapda moved on the top of the points table when they squeezed past PIA 2-1.
Asif Michael opened the scoring for Wapda in the sixth minute of the game, while Rehan Butt grabbed the second in the 20th minute.
Coached by former Pakistan player Saleem Sherwani, PIA also having several Pakistan players, got their consolation in the 51st minute through Mahmood Ali.
Navy gave KESC a hockey lesson when the sailors won 5-1.
Ali Mehndi goal in the 10th minute penalty corner conversion proved the solitary goal for KESC. The sailors equalised with a Khalid Ali goal in the 17th minute, and went 2-1 up when Falak Zaman found the cage in the 49th minute.
Gul Amin got the third in the 53rd minute, Rao Nadeem was on target in the 61st minute, while Waqasul Haq completed the tally four minutes later.
Wednesday's fixtures
PAF v HBL 1.30pm; NBP v SSGC at 3.00pm; Wapda v PQA at 4.45pm.
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