Railways runs over Andhra

By Abhijit Sen Gupta

HYDERABAD, NOV. 27. Favourite Railways and host Hyderabad kept up their unbeaten record in the 60th senior National hockey championship Group A league at the Begumpet astro turf hockey ground here on Monday.

Railways at last struck top form to thrash Andhra 4-0 in a one- sided contest, with Briznev Singh scoring a hat-trick, while Hyderabad put up a good performance to beat Bihar 2-0.

This morning Railways was in full cry and there was little that Andhra could do to stem the tide. Anup Tirkey scored the first goal just four minutes after the start off a penalty corner. Till the half time Andhra managed to prevent Railways from increasing its tally.

But in the second session, Railways proved unstoppable. Centre forward Briznev Singh scored three goals in succession in the 51st, 56th and 62nd minutes. On the whole Railways should find something to cheer about after its performance in today's match.

In its first two outings it was not really getting its act together. Despite winning its first two matches the railway performance was not upto expectations. But today it dispelled all doubts about its capabilities with its splendid show.

Likewise Hyderabad also enhanced its chances of moving into the knock-out phase. The margin today could have been much bigger if the home team had been able to convert all the chances that came its way. There was a consistency and confidence about Hyderabad's moves on Monday, which was only sporadic in its previous encounter.

Paul Moses, Osman Bin Abdullah , Dung Dung, Elia and Anand Ratna Kumar combined well and created several openings. But a little more precision and coordination at the finish could have given the home team the victory margin that it deserved.

The first goal came in the 22nd minute when outside right Ramesh tapped the ball home off a pass from Paul Moses from the top of the semi circle. The Bihar defence including goalkeeper Bharat Chetri put up a good performance to deny Hyderabad any further goals till the break. Four minutes after change of ends, Hyderabad got its second goal through Moses' penalty stroke. The stroke was awarded when Sarwanand was stick-checked by a Bihar defender inside the striking area when about to take a hit.

In all Hyderabad had six penalty corners and Bihar four. Hyderabad goalkeeper Murali Krishna's quick reflexes and good anticipation enabled him to make at least three fine saves to deny Bihar any goals.

In the third match of the day ITBP defeated SAIL 3-1 after leading 1-0 at the break. Veer Singh scored in the seventh minute for ITBP. In the second session Veer Singh scored again in the 62nd minute and then Raman Kumar banged in the third goal in the 67th minute. With two minutes left for the final whistle, SAIL got its solitary goal through Satwinder Singh who converted a stroke.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Karnataka goes on the rampage
Next     : Unimpressive win for Mumbai