Even as the spotlight shifted to searching the qualifiers on Sunday, ONGC emerged as the top contender in Pool ‘A' of the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament.
The 4-1 victory over the defending champion, Army, was the talking point of the day not for the quality of play dished out but for the incidents that besmirched the image of the champion outfit.
Eight minutes after the break, local umpire Surya Prakash showed two green cards simultaneously to Mukesh of Army and Preetinder of ONGC. As the former had already been carded this had to be a yellow.
The Army players protested and surrounded the umpire. In the ensuing melee, Sunil Ekka, hit Surya Prakash, causing a head injury. The shocking act incensed the crowd which surged towards the edge of the stands heckling the Army players.
The umpire, who needed medical attention and rushed to the hospital, had to be substituted with Pankaj Thyagi, the reserve umpire.
It took quite a while to get the commotion under control. Predictably, umpire Raghunath, the other umpire on the field red carded Sunil Ekka, and also the skipper, Xalco.
While the fracas left a bitter taste in the mouth, it must be acknowledged that the Army outfit was outplayed. Nothing exemplifies this than the 3-0 lead that ONGC took before half-time.
Up in the early minutes through Tryon, ONGC enlarged the margin when Sandeep Antil provided the finishing touches to a cross from Toppo. Then a penalty corner hit by Diwakar Ram led to a stroke which he converted for the third.
Unable to come with anything worthwhile, the Army team failed to capitalise on the four penalty corners it garnered in this period. Ignace Tirkey ventured to introduce a bit of sparkle but there were no takers to give him a shoulder.
The ugly happenings shortly after the break clearly diminished the tempo, although the Army team had a consolation goal from Eliziar Lakra. However, before the whistle, ONGC established the fact that it was the superior side on this day with a goal from Pramod Kumar.
Good start
The campaign for Indian Railways in the competition started with a victory and this was rendered easier by the inability of the Karnataka XI to convert the plethora of chances it fashioned in the encounter.
True, Karnataka fought commendably to fill the 0-2 leeway in the first half, but the equaliser in the second eluded it on more than three occasions.
The Railway outfit, coached by the former Olympian and skipper, V. Baskaran, was methodical. A penalty stroke in the early minutes gave Railways the inspiration it was looking for. A quick finish from the top of the box by Deepak Ekka struck against a set of defenders in front of the goal. Vivek converted the stroke without a hint of fuss.
Midway through Innocent Kullu hit in a penalty corner to hoist the second goal.
Thimmiah shines
The manner in which the Karnataka attack worked gave the impression that goals would appear any moment. Nithin Thimmiah, easily the outstanding forward for Karnataka, earned the distinction of netting both the goals. His deft deflection from a penalty corner push by Ayappa was a peach of an effort. Even the second underlined his opportunism. Mudappa broke in only to be baulked by goal-keeper Kantha. But Nithin who was following Mudappa picked up the rebound and sounded the boards.
Everything was on an even keel after the break until a gaping hole in the defence gave Rajnesh Pandey a splendid chance. And the striker picked it up with a fantastic drive from the top of the circle totally confounding the rival custodian Dayal.
Karnataka had enough time — as much as 32 minutes — to find the equaliser. Chances created after a good deal of effort were frittered away with Pradhan Somiah capping the most agonising effort. He wove all the way and with only goal-keeper before him, hit the side boards.
With a solitary point in three games, Karnataka's chances appear very dim at this stage in the pool ‘A'..
The results: Indian Railways 3 (Vivek Singh, Innocent Kullu, Rajnesh Pandey) bt Karnataka XI 2 (Nithin Thimmiah 2); ONGC 4 (Tryon, Sandeep Antil, Diwakar Ram, Pramod Kumar) bt Army 1 (Eliziar Lakra).
Monday's matches: IOC v PNB (2.15 p.m.); Army v Indian Railways (4 p.m.); ONGC v Namdhari XI (6.45 p.m.).
