CHENNAI: While Air India came out with flying colours to ease into the last four without a blip, the defender of the Gold Cup — BPCL — was stretched to the wire by Orissa Sports Hostel in a high scoring contest of the MCC-Murugappa hockey tournament at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium on Tuesday.

That BPCL managed to troop out a 4-3 winner after conceding the lead midway through the second half underscores the intensity of the struggle. What impressed everyone about the Orissa boys was not merely their strength in the fundamentals, but also the fighting qualifies they displayed.

Rooting for the boys

The Orissa boys fought back at every turn, never letting the more seasoned BPCL gain any territorial advantage. Small wonder, the crowd was solidly behind the Sports Hostel colts. Had the deep defence remained more organised and less error-prone, the Orissa side could easily have avoided the two penalty strokes that saved the day for BPCL.

Amardeep Ekka and Dilip Kerketta were the pick of the Orissa attack. The two goals Dilip scored in the second half were gems for their conception and execution.

When Amar Ayyamma put BPCL ahead, there was no indication that the team would face such a horrid time. However, when Amardeep brought in the equaliser there was enough evidence to suggest that the contest was developing into an absorbing one.

A penalty stroke after Tushar Khandekar was obstructed enabled Prabhdeep Singh to give BPCL a 2-1 lead after the break. That proved ephemeral as Kerkatta produced a stunner and followed it up with another lovely effort to put the Sports Hostel boys ahead.

Ayyamma steps in

With only two minutes left, BPCL was desperate but Ayyamma, ever a trustworthy scorer, levelled. However, one minute before the hooter, the Orissa defence fumbled and gave way for another stroke which Prabhdeep converted without fuss.

While Air India finished its programme in Pool B with 10 points, BPCL has seven with a match remaining against Army (six). BPCL needs only a draw while a defeat will put Army in the semifinal. In Pool A, IOC leads the table with seven points followed by Railways at six from two matches.

For Air India, it was a walk in the park and it was 5-0 at half-time, thanks to the two scorching penalty corners by Sandeep Singh and two effective shots by Bruno Lugan who went on to perform a hat-trick.

The results: BPCL 4 (Amar Ayyamma 2, Prabhdeep Singh 2) bt Orissa Sports Hostel 3 (Amardeep Ekka, Dilip Kerketta 2).

Air India 6 (Sandeep Singh, Bruno Lugan 3, Arjun Halappa) bt Namdhari XI 1 (Karamjeet Singh).
Wednesday’s matches: Karnataka XI v Indian Railways; IOB v Mumbai XI; BPCL v Army XI.