ONGC (Oil & Natural Gas Corporation) dished out a spirited performance as they rallied splendidly to put it across Union Bank of India by a 4-3 margin in an exciting Pool-B match of the MHAL (Mumbai Hockey Association Limited) Super Division League 2015 and played under floodlights at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate on Tuesday evening. In this high-scoring encounter, six of the seven goals came from penalty corners.
MHAL President, Mangha Singh Bakshi (left) presents the ‘Man-of-the-match’ award to Tyron Pereira
Union Bank started with a flourish and stunned their opponents when Vikram Singh managed to tap in from close following their first short corner in the 11th minute before ONGC restored parity when Jagwant found the net from their second short corner in the 18th minute. Union Bank once again took the lead this time through Harjit Singh’s penalty corner conversion in the 26th and for the second time ONGC levelled the scores through Mandeep Antil from their third penalty corner in the 34th minute.
Immediately after the change of ends, Harjit with another powerful drag flick gave Union Bank the lead for the third time in the 39th minute. ONGC fighting hard scored two quick goals in as many minutes through penalty corner specialist Diwakar Ram in the 51st and Tyron Pereira’s field effort five minutes later to clinch the math in their favour.
Earlier in the afternoon, Rhema Sports squandered a 2-0 first half advantage before going down fighting 2-3 to Namdhari XI in a Pool-A match. The Rhema side rocked the Namdhari citadel when Sukhman Singh converted their first penalty corner in the 12th minute. Sukhman once again found success from their second short corner in the 28th minute to double Rhema’s lead.
However, Rhema were unable to defend their lead and conceded three goals in the second period to end up on the losing side. For Namdhari, full back Bhagat Singh scored from two penalty corners in the 56th and 68 minutes while Harpreet Singh scored the second in the 57th minute.
Later in another Pool-B encounter, Sports Authority of India struck a late 64th minute winner through Arvind Sharma to snatch a narrow 1-0 win against Bombay Engineering Group to record the first win.
Bhagat Singh (Namdhari XI), Arvind Sharma (SAI) and Tyron Pereira (ONGC) were adjudged the ‘Man-of-the-match’ in their respective matches and all three received a cash award of Rs 1,000 each.
Results
Pool-A: Namdhari XI 3 (Bhagat Singh 56th, 68th, Harpreet Singh 57th) beat Rhema Sports 2 (Sukhman Singh 12th, 29th). Man-of-the-match: Bhagat Singh (Namdhari XI).
Pool-B: Sports Authority of India 1 (Arvind Sharma 64th) beat Bombay Engineering Group 0. Man-of-the-match: Arvind Sharma (SAI).
Pool-B: ONGC 4 (Jagwant Singh , Mandeep Antil , Diwakar Ram , Tyron Pereira ) beat Union Bank of India 3 (Vikram Singh , Harjit Singh )
. Man-of-the-match: Tyron Pereira (ONGC).
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Wednesday fixtures
2.00 pm: Indian Navy vs Rhema Sports (Pool-A).
3.45 pm: Central Railway vs Indian Oil (Pool-A).
5.30 pm: Punjab National Bank vs Namdhari XI (Pool-B).