Exciting finish to a set of sedate matches

S. THYAGARAJAN

There were moments to relish as a set of sedate matches, interspersed by rain, coursed through to an exciting climax when Punjab National Bank and BPCL figured in a nail-biting contest in the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Saturday.

Rain interrupted the last match more than once but that never deterred the big crowd which witnessed a major upset when PNB claimed full points with a 3-2 victory after trailing twice.

PNB richly deserved the outcome as the players fought against a more seasoned side apart from the weather and a slippery surface.

In fact, the first sign of alarm for BPCL came in the early minutes when Navdeep Singh almost stunned goal-keeper Kuttappa with a deflection.

Progressively, BPCL found the format to weave circles around the rival defenders. Veteran Sabu Varkey with undiminished enthusiasm kept the attack moving. And what more, paved the way for the lead when Karamjit Singh tapped in a cross from the right.

THE EQUALISER

Shortly after the break came the equaliser for PNB through a penalty corner. Jatinder’s fierce shot was stopped by Kuttappa but Satpal slammed into the net from the rebound.

Then a well rehearsed move involving Jarnail and Karamjit ended with the latter finding the target. If BPCL thought that it had conquered the opposition it was sadly mistaken.

PNB roared back in pouring rain to level when Ravinder Singh hit the target and then Lakwinder Singh connected a beautifully angled cross by Ranjit Singh.

The players had to cool their heels for over quarter of an hour at that point with 10 minutes remaining. The rain relented but not the PNB defence which held on gamely to play out time.

Notwithstanding some smart saves by goal-keeper Suresh, Southern Railway failed to deny Indian Juniors a victory by the narrowest of margins in a pool B encounter.

The credit for turning the match in favour of the Juniors went to Navin Sangwan, whose deft back hander caught Suresh on the wrong foot when five minutes remained from the hooter.

FAR MORE CONFIDENT

Granting the fact that the juniors looked more organized, both in the creation of moves and maintaining attacking tempo, the Railway team looked far more confident and authoritative than it did while capitulating to the formidable IOC on Friday.

Not only did the defenders control their area well, but enabled the frontline to forge a few sallies using Jayaraj as the fulcrum. Inconsistency sullied all the good work.

The Juniors, with Lalith Upadyaya as the principal striker, managed to build a good measure of pressure in the rival area. But the stumbling block was Suresh. Twice, the Railway custodian stopped powerful hits fom Amit Rohitdas in penalty corners.

Even a withering drive by Lalith was saved with rare equanimity. But in the final minutes, perhaps unsighted by the crowd of defenders in front, Suresh erred in reading the angle of the reverse flick from Sangwan.

With four points in two matches, the Juniors enjoy a fairly good chance of making it to the last four.

NAMDHARIS FIGHT BACK

After an insipid start against ONGC on the opening day, Karnataka looked well set for a comfortable victory against the Namdhari XI. At least this looked quite within reach when Karnataka had three goals on the board without a reply till 13 minutes before the final whistle.

But the Namdharis, known for their gallant fightbacks staged one such act. They almost came close to clinching full points. In a space of seven minutes, they equalled the score, thanks to two splendid goals in as many minutes by Gurpreet Singh.

Buoyed by the turn of events, the Namdharis restored parity through Harpreet Singh.

The results: Karnataka XI 3 (Ravi Kumar, Nithin Thimmiah, Vivek Ramakrishnan) drew with Namdhari XI (Gurpreet Singh 2, Harpreet Singh).

Hockey India (juniors) 1 (Naveen Sangwan) beat Southern Railway 0.

Punjab National Bank 3 (Satpal, Ravinder Singh, Lakwinder Singh) beat BPCL 2 (Karamjit Singh 2).