Union Bank of India(UBI) and Western Railway, in convincing fashion won their respective Pool-B matches of the Mumbai ‘Super League 2015’, organised by the MHAL (Mumbai Hockey Association Limited), and played at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate, on Wednesday.
Union Bank of India young defender Nikhil Pardeshi, who won the ‘Man-of-the-match’ award
In the first match of the day, a young Union Bank outfit recovered strongly from a 0-1 deficit as they with a fighting display turned things around to record a 4-1 win against Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Later in the evening, former champions Western produced a solid combined performance in the second period to knock the fight out of Bombay Engineering Group (BEG) before coasting to an easy 6-1 victory. Prolific scorer Rajan Kandulna scored a hat-trick, while Amit Rohidass added two from short corners and Manpreet Singh one, also from a penalty corner. BEG got the lone goal through Abung Singh.
After SAI took the lead through Nitin’s goal in the 20th minute, Union Bank did well to come back and restore parity through Khalid Aziz’s strike in the 32nd minute before full back Harjit Singh converted a penalty stroke three minutes later to give the bankers a slender 2-1 half-time lead. Union Bank continued to push hard at the SAI defence and earned another penalty stroke which was successfully converted, this time by Nitin Kumar in the 64th minute and they consolidated the lead when Harjit scored from a penalty corner in the 67th minute to complete a deserving win.
In the second match, BEG showed that they were up for a fight against Western as they both dished out some good attacking performance and made some incisive moves to try and create chances at either end.
Western grabbed the early advantage when penalty corner specialist Rohidass made no mistake scoring from the first penalty corner in the very 8th minute. BEG making a return to the Mumbai Super League, fought on gamely and managed to draw level in the 16th minute. Following a quick counter Ranjendra Ekka with a long pass found his diminutive forward Abung in the clear. The latter coolly controlled the ball as he raced towards the goal and with a firm hit beat an onrushing goalkeeper Gurwinder Singh. The railwaymen regained the lead when Kandulna tapped in after Malak Singh and Jayakar combined well on the left to open up the BEG defence in the 32nd minute.
However, after switching sides, Western upped the tempo and capitalised on the chances that came their way to score four more goals during the second session to take the match away from their rivals.
Union Bank defender Nikhil Pardeshi who played very consistently and Western Railway Rajan Kandulna were later adjudged as the ‘Man-of-the-match’ in their respective matches and both were presented with a cash award of Rs 1,000 each.
Results
Pool-B: Union Bank of India 4 (Khalid Aziz Harjit Singh , Nitin Kumar ) beat Sports Authority of India 1 (Nitin 20th).
Western Railway 6 (Amit Rohidass 8th, 54th, Rajan Kandulna 32nd, 38th, 69th, Manpreet Singh 63rd) beat Bombay Engineering Group 1 (N Abung Singh 16th).
Thursday fixtures
2.30 pm: Abhi Foundation vs Indian Navy (Pool-A).
4.15pm: PNB vs Rhema Sports (Pool-A).