Indian Navy scored a late equalizer to share honours with defending champions Central Railway SA in a keenly contested 3-3 draw in a Super Division match of the MHAL League 2018-2019 and played at the MHAl Stadium, Churchgate on Saturday.
In a hotly contested match which saw the lead changing hands a couple of times, Central Railway forged ahead when Rajendra Pawar converted a penalty corner in the 15th minute. But, Navy’s Jugraj Singh scored two quick goals, the first from a short corner in the 18th minute and the second from a field effort four minutes later to take the lead. Central came charging back and immediately drew level when Pawar scored his and the team’s second goal in the 25th minute. The railway side regained the lead through Reuben Kedari’s penalty corner conversion in the 34th minute and went into the break with a 3-2 half-time lead.
The Navy outfit pressed hard for the equalizer and managed to restore parity when Rana Pratap hit the target in the 68th minute to salvage a draw.
Central now has 11 points from six games and are currently in second position behind table topper Navy who have finished the eight-team league with 16 points. Both, Navy and Central, who have a match against Sports Authority of India on Monday, have qualified to meet in Wednesday’s final.
Results – Super Div: Central Railway 3 (Rajendra Pawar 2, Reuben Kedari) drew with Indian Navy 3 (Jugraj Singh 2, Rana Pratap).