Indian Oil, Air India (North) and Air India, Mumbai teams registered victories against their respective opponents in the quarter-final league matches of the fourth Oriental Bank Maharaja Ranjit Singh hockey tournament played at the Shivaji Stadium here on Thursday.
In the day’s first keenly contested match, Air India, Mumbai edged past the stiff challenge of Army XI team 1-0 via sudden death after both the teams couldn’t be able to produce any results in the regulation period and the score remained goalless draw. Both the teams also levelled the terms 4-4 after the application of tie-breaker rule, pushing it further to sudden death.
The tournament organising committee on the lines of Premier Hockey League (PHL) rules introduced the application of the tie-breaker and sudden death rule in the league stage. As per the PHL rule, the winning team will earn two points while the losing side will also get one.
For the winners, Joga Singh scored the decisive match-winning goal in the sudden death after scoring one prior in the tie-break while experienced D Mahadik failed to match his opponent’s skill in his second attempt after converting one successfully in the tie-breaker.
Joga Singh, Dilbagh Singh, Girish Pimpale Ajmer Singh scored for the Air India, Mumbai team in the tie-breaker while Gaurav Tokhi failed to find the net. D Mahadik, Sunil Ekka, Eliazer Ekka and Chittranjan Singh sounded the board for Armymen in the shoot out, as Anil Ekka couldn’t succeed in his try.
In the second match of the day, Deedar Singh scored the decisive goal in the closing stages of the game to set up Indian Oil’s 2-1 win against Punjab and Sind Bank after both the teams remained goalless till half-time.
Indian Oil went up in the 50th minute through Hamza Mujtaba, who slotted in following a good field effort. PSB restored parity four minutes later with Vikramjit Singh converting a penalty corner. Deedar Singh then scored the winning goal for his team five minutes before the final hooter to seal the fate of the opponents.
In the day’s last league match, Air India (North) prevailed over Punjab National Bank (PNB) 3-2 to notch up the victory. Drag flicker Sandeep Singh put his team ahead six minutes before the breather converting a short corner.
Veteran Brojen Singh doubled Air India’s lead four minutes in to the second half with a fine field goal. Sandeep Michael soon struck one more for the Airmen reading the scoreline 3-0.
The bankmen tried their hard but couldn’t cash on the opportunities that came their way. Just when it was appearing that the Air India team would comfortably win the match with a convincing three-goal margin, Damandeep pulled one back for PNB making it 3-1.
After scoring the goal PNB players got their act together and launched flurry of attacks in rival citadel in search of another goal and they were duly rewarded for their worthwhile efforts as Jatinder Saroha struck PNB’s second in the 50th minute to reduce the margin.
The last twenty minutes saw some exhilarating game from both the sides but much to the dismay of bankmen, as they couldn’t be able to neutralise Air India’s effect, the airmen team did their best to hold on their lead and ended up on the winning side with a 3-2 verdict.
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