Kandahar 7 - 0 Lahore (387173029)

27880 fans braved the pouring rain at Rough Field. Taavi Saron was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ricardo Vale and Flavien Manchon. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Kandahar. Starters: Zaidi - Wahla, Iqbal, Valle - Daud, Ansari, Oliveira, Najib, Noorani - Tehsin, Burhan.

Lahore decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. They fielded: Ghulam - Abid, Kumail, Akram, Omair - Khan, Chaudhary, Qizilbash, Channa - Wajahat, Ansari.

The muddy pitch made the game a gritty affair, which seemed to suit S. Iqbal just fine. 11 minutes into the match and the home team took a 1 - 0 lead after breaking through on the left. The scorer for Kandahar was F. Tehsin. A. Burhan could have increased the lead after 17 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. Lahore's F. Abid was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 24 minutes. After 29 minutes, A. Burhan put Kandahar ahead 2 - 0 when he rose to head in a cross from the right wing. Halftime score was 2 - 0. Kandahar had most of the ball, with 75 percent of possession.

Things were deteriorating for the away team as Kandahar scored another to make it 3 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for M. Oliveira after 63 minutes. With 67 minutes played, M. Oliveira of Kandahar fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. After 68 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and J. Najib gave the Kandahar supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 4 - 0. By now, the players in Kandahar felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Kandahar's A. Burhan increasing the lead to 5 - 0. Kandahar put themselves up 6 - 0 when S. Iqbal broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. Kandahar's A. Burhan increased the lead to 7 - 0, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 74 minutes. At that, A. Burhan was noted down for a hat trick! The referee showed Kandahar's F. Tehsin the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Possession in this half belonged to Kandahar, who controlled the ball 79 percent of the time.

Most important Kandahar player was H. Zaidi. On the other hand, J. Valle's play was disheartening. Lahore's top performer was clearly Y. Ansari. R. Ghulam turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 7 - 0.