Local challengers Western Railway were made to work hard for their 3-0 win against qualifiers Union Bank of India in a Pool-A round-robin league match of the 11th PMC Bank-Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup All India Hockey Tournament, being organised by the Mumbai Hockey Association Limited (MHAL) and played at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate on Tuesday. Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PCM) Bank is the sponsors of this tournament, which is being organised under the auspices of Hockey India.
Penalty corner specialist Amit Rohidas (19th minute-PC), Malak Singh (52nd) and Jaykaran (64th) were responsible for getting the goals for Western who were unimpressive in the match.
Earlier in a Pool-B encounter, Northern Railway scored twice in each half to hand last year’s runners-up South Central Railway a 4-1 defeat in Pool-B. Harjot Singh (6th), Harish (10th), Harsahib Singh (50th) and Manpreet Singh (55th) scored a goal each for Northern while South Central Railway scored the lone goal through Manikantan in the 18th minute.
The experienced Western side started in an attacking fashion against the Union Bank outfit comprising of young Mumbai lads and forced a penalty corner in the very second minute, but failed to convert. Thereafter, they held sway, but were unable to have a clear look at the rival citadel and whenever they got the opportunity they could not beat Union Bank custodian and captain, Sudhir Dixit who had a good day in office.
Western finally broke the Union Bank resistance when Rohidas with a firm flick despatched the ball to the roof of the net giving Dixit no chance to affect a save.
Union Bank were unfazed by that setback and continued to defend stoutly. They also managed a couple of raids into the Western territory but were unable to have a crack at goal.
Midway through the second session Western added the second goal when Amit Gowda from the right found Malak Singh ideally positioned inside the circle. Malak trapped the ball, weaved around a rival defender and fired home in the 52nd minute before Jaykaran from a snap effort struck the third in the 64th minute.
Earlier, South Central Railway played badly as they lacked coordination and were unable to create chances at the other end. In contrast, Northern looked better organised and scored twice within the first 10 minutes. Harjot with a firm reverse hit score the opening goal in the sixth minute before Harish doubled the lead with a rasping drive from the edge of the circle.
South Central fought back and managed to reduce the deficit through Manikantan in the 18th minute. But they failed to sustain the momentum could not produce many goal-scoring opportunities.
Northern kept attacking the rival citadel and got the third goal when Harsahib picked up a rebound from goalkeeper Sushant Tirkey’s pads and tapped home in the 50th minute. Five minutes later Northern scored the fourth from a swift counter. Following a long scoop from the defence, Harsahib relayed the ball to an overlapping Manpreet who did well to cut past an onrushing goalkeeper Tirkey before coolly slapping home from an acute angle.
Results – Pool-B: Northern Railway 4 (Harjot Singh 6th, Harish 10th, Harsahib Singh 50th, Manpreet Singh 55th) beat South Central Railway 1 (Manikantan 18th).
Pool-A: Western Railway 3 (Amit Rohidas 19th, Malak Singh 52nd, Jaykaran 64th) beat Union Bank of India 0.
Wednesday fixtures
1.00 pm: Indian Oil vs Northern Railway (Pool-B).
3.00 pm: Western Railway vs ONGC (Pool-A).
5.00 pm: Bharat Petroleum vs Union Bank (Pool-A).