Central Railways manage to beat Sports Authority of India

Mumbai, September 19: Central Railway huffed and puffed to a 2-0 victory over Sports Authority of India in the Mumbai Super League Hockey match played at the Mahindra Stadium today. A goal each early and late in the match sealed the second victory for the railmen who now has eight points to their credit from five matches. SAI with just a solitary point to their account have now lost five of the six matches they have played.

Central started positively with Shashi Topno taking a good try from the left only to see the ball travel inches wide off the target. The fourth minute however, saw their consistent scorer Rashid Ali find the mark. The goal instead of pepping them up saw them slide very badly. Sports Authority missed two penalty corners and so did Central Railway in the first half. The change of end saw SAI step up the tempo while Central struggled to get back their rhythm. The winners had an opportunity much against run of play in the 48th minute.

A brilliant cross following a counter by Amit Singh was wasted by Navneet Swarnakar in front of goal. Despite the slump in their play Central managed to cling on to the lead till the end when they made the issue safe in the 67th minute of play. It was a good combined move by Shashi Topno and Deepak Lakra from just out side the 25 yard line with the latter finding the mark. Umar Farooq (C.Rly ) and Amjad Farooqui ( SAI) were shown the yellow card while Sudhamshu, Rajendra Nanganoor of SAI and Shashi Topno were shown the green card in the match.

Next match will be on 22nd Sept. only