City on strike, still hockey show goes on

Army Red discipline Fortis 2-0; IOCL humiliate Namdhari 5-0, as Air India save blushes against SAI

On a day of Karnataka bandh, when vehicles on the road were scarce, KSHA went ahead with their scheduled matches in the Super Division League at KSHA Stadium, Bangalore.

In the first match, Army Red overcame a valiant Fortis 2-0. The goal for Army Red came from their star Ignace Tirkey (55th minute) and S. Armugam (69th minute). Both were Field goals.

In the 1st half, a strong defense line up from Fortis didn’t give any chance to the Army Red to even try a shot free at the post. Army Red attacked repeatedly only to find it increasingly difficult to penetrate a rock-solid defense offered by Fortis. With no takers for long cross-passes, poor trapping and unnecessary scoops, Army Red kept losing the ball possession.

On the other hand, Fortis relied mostly on counter attacks. They earned a penalty corner early (9th) in the game but the slack push never made it to the top of the circle.

As the half time set in, a few good moves orchestrated by Mathais Minz and Chengappa in the mid-field, heartening saves by Shivdeep Singh and Bikas Toppo is what Fortis could cheer about. The score line read 0-0.

In the 2nd half, Army Red looked aggressive and promising with their attacks. Unfortunately, Army Red kept missing chances all through the 2nd half- A steal by S Ali messed up by M C Singh; Jerum set up Ignace Tirkey and he missed a simple push; M C Singh threw away all the good work done by his team mates;
S Ali and S Armugam looked rusty in their tackling and finish.
In the 42nd minute, Fortis would have gone up by a goal but a superb save by Red goalkeeper, P T Rao, by diving to his right, denied the honors to Diwakar Ram.

In 47th minute, Fortis ended up in a heated up argument with the umpire, Arun Babu, who awarded a PC to the Army Red. This followed a yellow-card to Bikas Toppo and, moments later, after consultation with the other umpire, Hardeep Singh, Arun Babu revoked the decision of penalty corner. Thus, Army Red was denied the only penalty corner of the game.

As Army Red kept missing chances, short-lived attacks galore from both sides. In the 55th minute, a cross-pass by Rajesh Kumar from the right flank found Ignace Tirkey at the goal mouth. He trapped, swung around and showed his class. For once, Army didn’t make a mistake as the score board showed 1-0 in their favor.

This brought in some urgency from Fortis and they started full team attacks, pushing Army Red on complete defense. Full back, Gurjinder Singh’s run down the Army men’s circle and a few wild hits by otherwise tired looking, Ajitesh Roy showed the desperation had crept in for the Fortis men.

But this was short lived as the Fortis looked tired and that created gaps in their quarter. This gave an opportunity to S Armugam (in the 69th minute), who got a pass in the left side of the D. He did no mistake in taking a quick drag flick into the goal, going way left of goalkeeper Sunil Ekka.

A must mention for Fortis, is the solo game by Damandeep Singh. He remained the weakest link in the forward line of Fortis (for which Fortis paid dearly) as he kept messing up with his trapping, tackling and passing (of the few he did).
Army Red thus gathers 15 points from their 5 matches. Fortis now stand 6th in the points table with 7 points from 6 matches.

The title of match of next match looked exciting: Namdhari v IOCL. The show was just the opposite. IOCL mercilessly thrashed Namdhari 5-0 outclassing them comprehensively.
For IOCL, 4 goals were scored by V R Raghunath (4th, 13th, 58th and 65th minute) and 1 by Gagandeep Singh Jr. (25th minutes).

IOCL started the game with a frantic pace and drew 1st blood in the 4th minute as a result of the 2nd consecutive penalty corner. A few set-ups by Inderjit Chadha and Roshan Minz; another few lousy fouls by Namdhari summed up the story of 1st half, as Raghunath scored a brace and Gagandeep Jr. scored a field goal.

Namdhari didn’t attack much. They relied on man to man marking, in which they were fairly efficient – IOCL attacks came by the minute with wonderful co-ordinations between midfielders and forward line. But Namdhari midfielders were spaced apart in the field thereby having little connection with their defense line. Thus, a hit from the full backs failed to generate a full momentum attack.

IOCL went into the lemon break, with their shoulders high as they played as one cohesive unit irrespective of their field positions. Their ball possession remained superior and a buckling Namdhari defense would be imminent.
2nd half was almost identical for either side. IOCL’s game remained consistent. Namdhari continued with their empty scoops and blind slap-shots. They kept conceding penalty corners for their silly mistakes in their tackle.

Namdhari did bring in some steam in their attack and earned 3 penalty corners (compared to 1 in the 1st half). Wild hits and saves by Baljit Singh denied them any reason to even smile as the match finished 5-0 for the IOCL.

Namdhari players were often found arguing with the umpires Raghu Prasad and Dominic Savio. During these times, they did earn (and gave their opponents) a well-deserving, long relaxation break.

IOCL has the privilege of 2 classy goalkeepers – Baljit Singh and Devesh Chauhan. Even without the coach, Ramesh Parmeshwaran being around, the two guard the post in each half and do the job wonderfully well. They both make sure that IOCL post is guarded thoroughly.
In the last match of the day, where Air India were undisputedly expected winners; victory margin was a guess to be taken. Interestingly, SAI, backed by deafening drum beats from rather empty stands, put up stiff resistance to Air India.

Only in the 41st minute, Air India scored a field goal by Shivender Singh. The match finished 1-0 for Air India.

Air India, BPCL and IOCL (18 points each, from their 6 matches) rank 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Army Red ranks 4th with 15 points from 5 matches.
The most interesting portion of the league begins from tomorrow when the above 4 teams take on each other in the last 7 days of the league.