Chennai: Indian Oil Corporation had to ward off a formidable challenge from Indian Railways before it sealed its place in the semifinals of the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium on Tuesday.

The 1-0 verdict, thanks to Rupinder Singh’s effort two minutes before the final whistle, saved the day for IOC.

For the large measure, the tie was in favour of the Railway squad whose resilience and robust play kept the IOC on the defensive throughout.

The outcome brought IOC’s tally to 12 points after finishing the programme in Pool B, while Indian Railways has three points from three matches with one in hand — against Punjab National Bank.

Chances frittered away

Till date, this was Railways best shot in the competition. It is a pity that it did not end up on the side of victory.

Railways showed the gumption, the aggression and the adeptness in weaving moves, with Hardeep Singh, Quereshi and Prem Kumar crippling the IOC defence.

If only their work had carried that matching finish, Railways would have won hands down. Quite a few chances were frittered away and Prem Kumar was guilty of throwing away a couple.

IOC had its own strengths, especially in the frontline work headed by Deepak Thakur. Mid-fielder Didar Singh put in a creditable show, not only in assisting the attack but in taking powerful hits at the goal too.

But Railways had a splendid goal-keeper in Suraj Kantha. Some of his saves were breath-taking.

All the thrust by Deepak and Parihar failed to dislodge the defence which gave way only in the final minutes. IOC used this last chance when Rupinder Singh pumped in a penalty corner to swing it IOC’s way when a draw would have seen to be an appropriate result.

Punjab National Bank warmed up rather late in the tournament recording its first win in three matches beating Mumbai with consummate ease in Pool B.

Fumbled penalty

Actually, PNB could have won by a bigger margin if all the chances were capitalised. Yudvir Singh even fumbled with a penalty stroke early in the second half.

The player of the match was striker Damandeep Singh. Not only did he figure in every move that PNB projected; he also netted two goals.

Mumbai’s inconsistency proved its undoing; the side progressively lost the edge in the tournament after an impressive display of its potential early.

With no point in three matches, Mumbai’s embarrassment was something of a let-down given the competence showed by a few like Irshad Mirza.

The results: Punjab National Bank 4 (Damandeep Singh 2, Yudvir Singh, Jalwinder Singh) bt Mumbai 1 (Gurdev Singh). IOC 1 (Rupinder Singh) bt Indian Railways 0.

Wednesday’s matches: BPCL v IOB; Air India v Karnataka; Army v Mumbai.