Raghunath scripts IOCL victory with treble

A three-goal effort from V R Raghunath helped Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) douse a spirited Sports Authority of India (SAI) fightback and register a 5-2 win in the State Super Division hockey league at the KSHA stadium here on Monday.

The win powered IOCL to the top of the table with 12 points from four wins. BPCL, who have a game on hand, are second with nine points.

Trailing by a 14th minute strike from drag-flicker Raghunath, SAI, who beat MEG 8-2 in their first match on Sunday, drew level four minutes later through Nikkin Thimmaiah. A counter-attack saw Pradhan Somanna, after a one-two with Poonacha M G, passing it to Nikkin, who scooped the ball over the rushing IOCL goalkeeper Baljit Singh.

SAI could have gone 2-1 up but Baljit was up to the task in saving Pradhan’s drive from close range. SAI had their fancied rivals on their heels in the first half as they dished out a pacy game with tight man to man marking. Luck also came to SAI’s aid, with a Raghunath drag-flick hitting the cross piece.

A reinvigorated IOCL upped the tempo in the second half, finding the target thrice in the span of three minutes, and killing SAI’s hopes of a comeback. Striker Arjun Antil placed home a Hamza Mujtaba pass from the right wing in the 36th minute before Raghunath converted a penalty stroke in the next minute to make it 3-1. IOCL took control of the match a minute later when Roshan Minz beat SAI custodian Jagdeep Dayal with a reverse hit after a long pass from Raghunath.

Just when IOCL was beginning to breathe easy, SAI narrowed the gap as Nikkin slotted home a rebound off Baljit in the 48th. A minute before the hooter Raghunath converted his second penalty stroke of the match to make it 5-2.

In the first match of the day, Namdhari notched their first win, defeating MEG 2-0.

Results: Namdhari XI: 2 (Malak Singh 40th, Gurmeet Singh 53rd) bt MEG: 0; IOCL: 5 (Raghunath 14th PC, 37th PS, 69th PS, Arjun Antil 36th, Roshan Minz 38th) bt SAI: 2 (Nikkin Thimmaiah 18th, 48th).