Thursday, January 07, 2010: Oil & Natural Gas Corporation ( ONGC ) and Indian Oil Corporation ( IOC) qualify for the last four of 9th All India Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup Hockey Tournament 2010 sponsored by Punjab & Maharashtra Co.Op.Bank Ltd played at the MHA Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate.
ONGC & IOC both playing their 2nd match in the pool ‘A’ consisting of 4 teams ( ONGC, IOC, Namdhari , Western Rly ) six points each virtually they are through for semi finals only they will have to clash with each other for the 1st & 2nd position in the pool ‘A’
ONGC edged out youthful & gritty Namdhari XI by a narrow margin of 2-1 after being ahead by a solitary goal during breather time. Namdhari youngsters continued their other day superb display trying to dominate their much fancied rivals ONGC defence manned by skipper Olympian Harpal Singh and a outstanding display under the bar by keeper Dinesh Ekka who saved half a dozen chances kept the Namdhari’s strikers at bay. However ONGC found the initial lead at the stroke of half time Karamjeet Singh clinically finished a combined move from the left by Sandeep Antil and Jagwant Singh ( 1-0 ) .
After resumption Namdhari’s kept their same momentum while ONGCa gradually upgraded their raids, both sides tussled at the midfield failing to get on target until Jayanta converted a penalty corner via drag flick for ONGC to add the 2nd goal in the 51st minutes ( 2-0 ) in this keenly contested tie Namdhari XI youths were reluctant to give up things their flourishes of attacks and back to back P.C’s bore success Gurpreet Singh converted a direct penalty corner ( 54th minutes ) to pull a goal back ( 1-2 ).
However thereafter the score remained same till the final hooter though there were lots of goal mouth action the 16th minutes were pulsating Namdhari XI though had a better circle penetration then ONGC skipper Harpal Singh and keeper Dinesh Ekka kept their nerves and saw that their side ONGC wins.
In an earlier match Indian Oil outplayed local giants Western Rly by a stunning margin of 5-1 at lemon break IOC were having a 3-0 lead. W.Rly had given a dazzling display yesterday against ONGC going down 3-4 score.
Today they looked like shadow going down tamely. IOC on the other hand displayed superbly. Double braces were fired in the tie. International Didar Singh converted 2 penalty corner via draflick method (13th & 46th minutes) Nitin Thimmaya fired two superb field goals (19th & 58th minutes) while Rupinderpal Singh chipped one to round up the tally of his side ONGC. W,Rly pulled a goal back in the 60th minutes through the efforts of Chinglan.S ( 1-5 )
Tomorrow, Air India will play Bhopal while S.C. Railways will lock horns with Central Railways.