BPCL, South Central Rly cruise
21st April 2009: South Central Railway and Bharat Petroleum eased to convincing wins in their opening group matches in the elite quarter-final league of the 47th Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament that got under way at the MHA-Mahindra Stadium on Tuesday.
Inter Railway runners-up South Central Railway were in complete control as they cruised to a convincing 3-0 win over qualifiers Southern Railway in Group A.
South Central sounded an early warning with a third minute goal by K.K. Bharath to dominate from the word go. Following the early advantage, they kept Southern in check as the latter, who squandered 11 penalty corners, struggled to break through a tight midfield and defence.
Against the run of play, South Central, who were never in trouble, swelled the lead when Mayank James struck in the 27th minute.
As the match steered towards the half time defender Gursev Singh fired the third goal at the stroke of the lemon break to put his team in a commanding position.
With Southern’s challenge passive, South Central chose not to exert themselves in a barren second half, in which Gursev Singh’s firm push off a penalty corner struck the post.
Earlier, in Group D, 2007 winners Bharat Petroleum kicked off their campaign with a convincing 6-3 win over qualifiers Indian Navy.
BPCL, who led 4-1 at half time, got their goals through Jarnail Singh and Ravi Pal who scored two goals each, while Amar Aiyamma and Pundalik Ballery added to the tally.
Manoj Lokhande, M. Singh and Shish Ram scored for Navy.
Result: Group D: BPCL 6 (Jarnail Singh 2, Ravi Pal 2, Amar Aiyamma, Pundalik Ballery) bt Indian Navy 3 (Manoj Lokhande, M. Singh, Shish Ram).
Group A: South Central Rly 3 (K.K. Bharath, Mayank James, Gursev Singh) bt Southern Rly 0.
WEDNESDAY: 2.15 p.m. Air India vs Panposh XI (Group B); 4.15 p.m. Indian Oil vs Western Railway (Group C)