RECORDER REPORT

PESHAWAR: PAF and PIA will face each other in the final after registering victories against their respective rivals in the semi-finals of the ongoing All-Pakistan Shama Challenge Football Cup being played at Sumbal Khan Football ground, Qayyum Sports Complex on Tuesday.

PAF registered 1-0 victory against Islamabad while PIA eliminated strong title contender Pakistan Wapda on a penalty shoot-out 5-4 before playing a goal-less draw in the allotted 90-minute time. The final will be played on October 20, 2016 at 3.00 p.m. Governor KP Engr. Iqbal Zafar Jhagra will grace the occasion as chief guest and will distribute cash prizes and winner and runners-up trophies.

In the first semi-final the spirited PAF recorded a solitary goal victory against strong Islamabad in the thrilling match witnessed by capacity crowd present on this occasion.

The match was started on slow pace and both PAF and Islamabad forwards shattered each other defence with some good attacking moves but their forwards were failed to score any goal till the end of the first session. Both PAF and Islamabad got some easy goal scoring opportunities but they frontline failed to score any goal. After the goal-less first-half play, it was the second session in which the two teams PAF and Islamabad adopted defence approach as a result the ball was mostly confined to mid-field.

It was only in the 57th minute when PAF got the lead through center striker Mansoor on the field attempt. When PAF got the lead, the kept up pressure and made some good attacking moves but due to poor finishing PAF was unable to double the lead. On the other hands, Islamabad also got some sure goal chances but PAF goal-keeper Ghazanfar rescued his team with beautiful saved. Thus PAF won the match by 1-0. Amin Ullah supervised the match while Alliuddin and Syed Imtiaz Ali Shah acted as deputy referees.

In the second semi-final PIA stunned 10-men Pakistan Wapda by 5-4 on a penalty shoot-out battle before playing a goal-less draw. It was bad tested created when referee Anwar Khan shown a Red-card to the goal-keeper Abdul Basit of Pakistan Wapda.

Abdul Basit was not satisfied over the decision of referee of showing him Yellow card and in the meantime Abdul Basit used abusive language against him, as a result Anwar Khan shown him Red-card in the 43rd minute, leaving Pakistan Wapda to play the remaining 47th minute on 10-member team. After the half-time, referee Anwar Khan started vomiting and left out of the match, match Commissioner Qazi Asif deputy reserve referee Syed Imtiaz Ali Shah to supervise the remaining match.