Airlines unimpressive in victory

Indian Airlines 2Bengal 1

Air India 1Karnataka 0

By Our Hockey Correspondent

CHENNAI, JULY 8. Once the glamour outfit of the country, Indian Airlines was incredibly phlegmatic and purposeless in its first outing against Bengal in Pool A of the Madras Cricket Club- Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium. The margin mirrors this more than anything else.

Later, Air India virtually assured itself of a berth in the last four with a narrow victory against Karnataka to take its tally to six points in two matches.

The second defeat for the youthful Bengal team may be a disappointing verdict. But the squad trained by Divnain Singh, an associate of Cedric D'Souza, impressed one and all but its refreshing approach and the menacing counter attacks. The adivasi content in the squad lends optimism to Bengal regaining its eminence on the national scene.

Airlines, comprising seasoned veterans under the leadership of the tireless midfielder Mohammad Shakeel, looked unsettled almost throughout, aside from frittering away a handful of chances by flippant shooting.

Even in the earlier minutes, Brojen Singh misdirected a backhander over the post. But progressively, it was Bengal that controlled the trend of play thanks to the swift and systematic frontline sallies indulged by Rajat Minj, Paulos Soy and Samarjit Singh.

Airlines, ponderous though in crafting the moves, held the attention whenever the youthful newcomer Sharad Babu surged through the defence. On more than one occasion, the city based youngster displayed his talent. Airlines missed another chance midway through when centre forward Altaf-ur-Rehman drove the ball over the post from a penalty corner.

Close on half time, Bengal clearly held the whiphand. A quicksilver move by P.Ekka and Rajat Minj almost caught the seasoned Ashish Ballal by surprise. But within a minute, Poulous Soy put the finishing touches to a move which was conceived jointly by Ekka and Minj.

Till midway in the second half, Bengal held the advantage territorially, giving many moments of anxiety to the Airlines defence, which struggled to fathom the depth and dimension of Bengal's attack. Rajat Minj caused alarm in the rival area whenever he moved up.

Airlines restored parity when Altaf-ur-Rehman tapped in a cross by Virender Singh, who met a long pass from the right by Ravindra Singh. Thereafter, the exchanges evened out a bit, although Bengal looked dangerous than Airlines. In the closing stages, Airlines wrested the initiative.

Goal-keper Birant Tate brought off a nice save off Alter-ur- Rehman to keep Bengal in the fray but five minutes before the hooter Munda was allowed to work his way through the defence and the Bengal goal fell.

Airlines has three points while Bengal has nothing from two matches. Bengal has a match remaining against Mumbai.

Darryl D'Souza scores winner

The flair, fluency and the ingenuity which marked Air India's fightback against the IHF Juniors on Friday were conspicuous by their absence this evening. An opportunistic goal by former international Darryl D'Souza turned out to be the match-winner. The Air India attack lacked the vigour because of a lack of combined thrust.

Devinder Kumar injected some pep into the attack from the middle as did Alex D'Souza from the wing. But the sharp shooter Edward Aranha was well marked by Sunil Benjamin. Air India's goal came late in the first half when Darryl deflected a pass from Edward Aranha.

Karnataka worked hard almost through without matching finish. The team forced as many as nine penalty corners, seven in the second half, against the two by the opponent. All the power packed shots by Thanu Nanjappa were thwarted by the defence.

Prompted well by Shanumgam in the mid-field, the Karnataka attack, with Ronald Kiran in the picture, pressured the rival defence. In the early minutes, a wristy backhander by Prakash Chalke off a pass by Shanmugam was palmed off with aplomb by goal-keeper Edgar Mascarenhas.

The best chance for Karnataka for the equaliser came in the final minutes of the first half when Anil Aldrin made a goal-line save off a shot by Kamal Horo from a penalty corner. Almost throughout the second half, Karnataka held the upperhand but the equaliser evaded all its endeavour.

Umpire Blaise Monteiro of Mubai has been elevated to Grade I by the FIH, while Satish Sharma of Chandigarh was promoted to International Class in the recent classification confirmed at the EB Board meeting in Amsterdam, according to Mr.K.Jothikumaran, Secretary, IHF. Blaise Monteiro is one among the panel here for the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup tournament now in progress here.

Tomorrow's matches: IHF Juniors v Punjab and Sind Bank (2.30 p.m.); Tamil Nadu v Mumbai (4.30 p.m.).

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