Railways, SSGC win in Super League

KARACHI: Railways beat Police 2-1 in the Super League of National Hockey Championship at National Hockey Stadium, Lahore, on Friday.

In other matches, Army drew WAPDA 2-2, and SSGC beat SNGPL 4-0.

Railways completely dominated the first quarter but failed to make the most of open play chances and two penalty corners.

The second quarter was the most evenly fought and all the three goals were scored in this period. 

An entertaining pole-to-pole game was witnessed. Both the sides had PCs and other chances. 

In the 21st minute, Police broke the ice via Sharjeel, scorer of three hat-tricks in these nationals. He found the board with a first time hit off a good ball sent into the circle.

Within four minutes, it was 1-1 when Ahmad Nadeem, a highly talented forward of Pakistan under-18s, standing close to the goal, flicked in a beautiful ball from right. 

The last minute of the first half saw the last goal. Tightly marked Sharjeel was brought down in the circle and Waseem put Police ahead again with a strong push to the top of the net’s left corner.

Railways remained in almost complete control during the last two quarters. They got four more PCs and several other opportunities but the equaliser eluded them. They were far ahead of police on all the counts: circle penetrations, attempts on goal and penalty corners (eight to two).

The match between Army and the highly fancied WAPDA was delayed because of fog. The soldiers made the earlier inroads. They availed themselves of the first penalty corner in the 8th minute with former Pakistan captain M Imran scoring with a vintage flick high into the top left.

Stunned by this goal, WAPDA came back strongly and exerted great pressure. They made several penetrations into the rivals circle, but failed to make any attempt. Three first half PCs, earned in succession, were also wasted and they entered the second half down by one goal.

As in the first half, the early minutes saw Army entering the WAPDA circle a couple of times. WAPDA regained ascendancy and were well in control for a considerable period but without any success. They also failed to capitalise on another three PCs.

In the 42nd minute, Army men, quick on turnovers, attacked the WAPDA castle and had their second (and last) PC and M Imran had his second goal. 

The last quarter started with Army having a highly-unexpected two-goal lead.

WAPDA were showing great urgency and threw men forward. Soon, the seventh PC arrived. Having failed with direct attempts, this time they opted for indirect drill, despite having the services of Sohail Abbas, the most successful drag flicker in history.

Sohail slipped the ball to Tasawwar on his left who flicked the ball into the net.

It was game on. WAPDA continued to look for the equaliser. But with increased men in attack, there were gaps in WAPDA’s defence and army entered the circle many a time and had a few good attempts as well. Army were on the verge of the biggest upset of these National Championships when the final minute began.

Asad Bashir’s fine stick work yielded another PC for WAPDA. They again went for a variation and found the equaliser through Umar Bhutta. 

In the third match, SSGC had the better of the exchanges most of the time. They looked more dangerous when moving ahead. The young SNGPL boys also had their moments and were successful in penetrating the other circle quite a few times. They got six PCs as compared to five obtained by SSGC. But inexperience let them down while SSGC availed themselves of two penalty corners.

A goal came in each quarter.

The first came in the 10th minute, when off the second PC, Abbas Haider dispatched the ball into the roof of the net.

The other three goals were all scored by Rana Sohail. In the 21st minute, he reacted quickly to a high rebound off another PC. He was again at the right spot to hit a long Kashif Shah pass into the goal. In the 45th minute, Zeeshan made a defence splitting run along the right flank. His diagonal pass was expertly flicked in by Rana, who had positioned himself well on the far post.

Railways, SSGC win in Super League was posted in Sports of TheNews International - https://www.thenews.com.pk on December 31, 2016 and was last updated on December 31, 2016. This news story is related to Print/175716-Railways-SSGC-win-in-Super-League/ - breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne. Permanent link to the news story "Railways, SSGC win in Super League" is https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/175716-Railways-SSGC-win-in-Super-League.

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