Chennai: There were moments to rejoice when a filament of mediocrity was transparent on Saturday in the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium. The spells of boredom were relieved by the three goals that Amar Ayyamma struck for defending champion, BPCL, against Namdhari XI and earlier by the lone one that Vinod Rayar crafted for Indian Overseas Bank in a drawn match against Railways. BPCL won 5-2.

After the innocuous showing against Air India in Pool B on Friday, BPCL was compelled to display a bit of verve and variety in its approach. Initially, nothing appeared to work even though the Namdharis, reputed for their robust style of play looked somewhat subdued.

The BPCL patterns were there, and surprisingly were threaded mostly by the indefatigable veteran Sabu Varkey. However, Hari Prasad created some flutter from the right wing in the early part until Amar Ayamma became the cynosure, netting two quick goals; the first by tapping a pass from the right and then hitting the boards with a delicate deflection from a free hit. In the second half, Amar stunned the goalkeeper with a charming backhander for his third goal.

Firm grip

BPCL maintained a firm grip in the second half too with Tushar netting the third goal but conceded one when Malak Singh made capital of a cross from Gurvinder Singh. In the closing minutes Namdhars further reduced the margin even as the BPCL disputed the goal by Karamjeet Singh. Seconds before the hooter Hari Prasad netted one, a deserving reward for the hard work.
What was cruising at a prosaic phase suddenly came to life when Vinod Rayar electrified the atmosphere with charming backhander to give Indian Overseas Bank the lead. Everything pointed out towards a favourable outcome for the city league champion, which almost lowered the colours of the IOC on the opening day.

On Saturday too, IOB was impressive, consistently probing in the rival area with adequate support from the defence. The prompter was Senthil, who figured in prominently in every move. He was instrumental in keeping the frontline players on their toes.

Skipper Vimalanathan worked out a few thrustful forays for Adam Sinclair to burst through repeatedly. Displaying commendable enterprise and energy, Sinclair courted chances more than once but failed to angle them well enough to slot the goal. Railway’s mid-field dominance emanated mainly from the efforts of the energetic Amit Kumar whose creativity never found the support from the forwards whose ineptitude cost the team dearly. The craft employed for penalty corner conversions too was anything but praiseworthy, save for the one thundering drive into the boards by Innocent Kullu for the equaliser.

It must also be admitted that Railways’ attempts failed to succeed beyond a point, and this was largely due to the good work under the bar by Sreejesh.

The results: Army XI 2 (Arumugam, Sunil) beat Orissa Sports Hostel 0; HT 1-0; Indian Railways 1 (Innocent Kullu) drew with IOB (Vinod Rayar) HT 0-1; BPCL 5 (Amar Ayyamma 3, Tushar Khandekar, Hari Prasad ) beat Namdhari XI 2 (Malak Singh, Karamjeet Singh) HT 2-0.

Sunday’s matches: Indian Railways v Mumbai (2-15 p.m.); Namdhari v Army XI (4 p.m.); Karnataka v IOC (5-45 p.m.).