India lived dangerously in the final minutes but hung on to a solitary goal by substitute Abdul Hakim to beat Pakistan 1-0 in the second match of Indo-Pak Football series in Peshawar on Thursday night.
After failing to capitalize on two certain goal-scoring opportunities in the second half, an unmarked Abdul Hakeem, in the 67th minute, headed an exquisitely timed cross from almost a negative angle by skipper Shanmugam Venkatesh to score the winner.
The victory also put India 1-0 ahead in the three-match series after both the teams split honours in the first game at Quetta.
India should have doubled the lead eight minutes later but Surajit Bose was controversially declared off-side after Sunil Chetri found the net from a rebound off Pakistan captain Jaffar Khan, who had an untidy match under the bar.
Pakistan retaliated through Mohammad Essa and Arif Mahmood, and launched a series of counter attacks in the final minutes. But the Indian defenders held their nerve and thwarted all the attempts to successfully defend the slender lead.
Both the teams entered the field promising to put up a more exciting performance. But the first-half told a contradictory story as both struggled for ball possession in mid-field. There were a few individual moves but not a single planned move was produced by either team.
India got the first real opportunity immediately in the second half when a scramble in the box provided an energetic Climax Lawrence an opportunity that was wasted when the pony-tailed players kicked the ball wide.
A little later, Jaffar Khan failed to gather an easy lob but Venkatesh could not deliver the killer blow. However, Venkatesh soon made amends when his solo run from the left drew the entire Pakistan defense that left Hakeem unmarked and he made full use of the opportunity.
India's victory in Peshawar sets up an exciting finale at Lahore, to be played on Saturday evening.
