It was a day when favourites didn’t entirely cover themselves with glory in the 91st MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup All-India hockey tournament, at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium, here on Thursday.
After BPCL huffed and puffed to a 2-0 win over Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu (HUTN) in a Pool ‘A’ tie, Hockey Odisha, with an average age of 18, played way above its level to pull off a 4-4 draw against a formidable Army XI team in a Pool ‘B’ match.
Wonderful team effort
Trailing 3-0 at one stage, Odisha exhibited wonderful team effort and rallied in a splendid fashion. Cyril Lugun scored Odisha’s first goal with a thundering backhander in the 42nd minute to make it 1-3.
Only a romantic would have expected the newbie to script a fightback, but it did so in grand fashion.
After a wonderful combination with Rakesh Tete, Sanjay Xalxo befuddled the Army’s defence to push one home.
Soon, holding a wonderful pass on the right, Amit Chirmako’s strike ricocheted through the legs of the ’keeper Arpit Chowdhary and the scores were even
With 10 minutes remaining, Army inched ahead through a sliding goal from Machaiah. Odisha didn’t buckle and got its fourth goal with a push by Sibren Lakra, who was alert to the rebound off the ’keeper’s pads in a penalty corner move.
No good moves
With three Olympians in Tushar Khandker, William Xalxo and Devindar Walmiki, BPCL couldn’t stitch one good move in the first half. Its defenders were busy staving off raids by a team which had mostly youngsters.
However, in the second session, the contest became more interesting with some good runs on either flanks.
BPCL opened the scoring thanks to Kawaljit Singh’s deflection off a riveting shot from Sahir Mohammed from the right. In the meantime, HUTN did defend well and its forwards had their chances.
Hariharan’s pass from the left saw no takers in the 19th minute and later Veera Thamizhan could have converted, but his shot weak shot went over the post. BPCL settled the issue through Sher Singh.
The results:
Pool ‘A’: BPCL 2 (Kawaljit Singh 53, Sher Singh 70) bt HUTN 0.
‘B’; Army XI 4 (A. P. Siraju 19, Binay Bhengra 29, Anselm Hemrom 32, B. B. Machaiah 60) drew with Hockey Odisha 4 (Cyril Lugun 42, Sanjay Xalxo 45, Amit Chirmako 56, Sibren Lakra 66).
