Western Railway fought back well to share the spoils with Indian Navy in a fast-paced 4-4 draw in a Pool-C match of the Dabang Mumbai – 50th All India Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament, at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. The scores were level 1-1 at the end of the first half.
Indian Navy captain and full back Sajit Lakra keeps the ball under control to thwart Western Railway’s midfielder Chinglen Sana (left)
Later in the evening, former champions Air India made a bright start by thumping CAG (Comptroller & Audit General) 5-1 in a Pool-B match after leading 2-1 at the break. Joga Singh scored twice while Birendra Lakra, Sameer Dad and Vikram Pillay added one goal each towards Air India’s win, while Naeemuddin Mohammad netted the lone goal for CAG, who had scored a 4-2 win against RCF, the third team in this pool.
In the first match contested between local outfits Navy and Western, the fare dished out was quite exciting as both the teams adopted an attacking approach.
The Navy outfit were the first to taste success as Janma Majhi found the target from a field effort in the 14thminute. However, the determined railwaymen replied back strongly and scored the equaliser through international Chinglen Sana in the 29th minute.
The second half was more entertaining as six goals were scored during this period. First, Western against the run of play took the lead when from a swift counter Malak Singh with a forward pass put Rajan Kandulna in the clear. Kandulna controlled the ball nicely as he entered the rival striking circle before firing past Navy goalkeeper Vikas in the 42nd minute.
The sailors quickly restored parity when Rana Pratap from a field effort scored in the 46th minute and Navy then went on to regain the lead when Nitesh with a firm angular drive from the right sounded boards in the 49th minute.
However, Navy let Western off the hook as they twice missed chances to extend the lead. First Nitesh was denied by the crossbar and later Faheem Khan with an open goal in front hit wide.
Western made the most of those reprieves as they started to launch a series of attacks on the rival goal and earned a couple of short corners. In the 65th minute Amit Rohidas converted from their 7th short corner to reduce Navy’s lead before Kandulna scored his second and the equaliser in the final minute to secure a honourable draw for the railway outfit.
Results – Pool-C: Indian Navy 4 (Janma Majhi 14th, Rana Pratap 46th, Nitesh 49th, 53rd) drew with Western Railway 4 (Chinglen Sana 29th, Rajan Kandulna 42nd, 69th, Amit Rohidas 65th).
Pool-B: Air India 5 (Joga Singh 5th, 45th, Birendra Lakra 34th, Sameer Dad 44th, Vikram Pillay 51st) beat CAG 1 (Naeemuddin Mohammad 31st).