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BPCL and Indian Oil to fight it out
Hockey Correspondent
| Stellar roles by Amar Aiyamma, Deepak Thakur |
CRY OF SUCCESS: BPCL's Amar Aiyamma (extreme right) exults after scoring a goal against Namdhari XI.
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At the end of it all emerged the finalists, BPCL and Indian Oil, who will lock horns for the cup on Monday.
While BPCL sailed with a solitary-goal win over Namdhari XI, Indian Oil outplayed Indian Airlines by three goals to nil.
Striking strategy
Not many had bargained for the eclipse of Airlines in such a humiliating fashion. But the manner in which Indian Oil plotted its strategy was striking and it paid rich dividends. The executioner was the Olympian, Deepak Thakur, who netted two goals, each as bewitching as the other.
Hardly before the Airlines defence, headed by Dilip Tirkey, had settled down, there was Deepak directing a long free hit by Inderjit Singh to the roof of the net leaving goal-keeper Adrian D'Souza blinking. That goal was enough to pep up the frontline that displayed commendable vigour and vibrancy.
Apart from Inderjit and Deepak, the third dimension to the attack came from winger Prabhjot Singh. The Deepak-Prabhjot combination, prompted well by Viren Resquinha caused enormous stress to the rival defence.
As the pressure mounted, the Airlines defence capitulated again, Deepak slotting in a cross from the right. And minutes later came Raghunath's scorching drag flick out of a penalty corner that proved the last nail in Airlines' coffin.
Ugly clash
Close on half-time, an ugly clash between goalkeeper Adrian and winger Prabhjot Singh ended in a needless distraction to an absorbing contest resulting in an yellow card for the latter.
The Airlines showed a semblance of a fightback in the second half, forcing a couple of penalty corners, but Dilip Tirkey's shots posed no threat to goal-keeper Devesh Chauhan.
The early indication of the mid-field headed by Vinay of matching the Indian Oil attack fizzled out as the encounter progressed.
Amar Aiyamma played a steller role for BPCL. It was only the fitness part that he should now focus on.
The only goal of the match against Namdhari midway in the second half. Many moves that BPCL carved out utilised the experience of Sabu Varkey as the crafter while winger Ravi Pal involved Aiyamma in some way or the other.
What lent Aiyamma the edge over the tough Namdhari defence were his stickwork, finesse and body dodges.
Bad luck
It was sheer bad luck that Aiyamma could not slot a goal or two earlier, even if one were to accuse him for being a trifle inaccurate. Actually, BPCL was unlucky in the early minutes when a quick sally ended with Sabu Varkey's shot being saved by goalkeeper, Swinder Singh. Aiyamma made a gallant try as did William Xalco.
Thereafter, the persistent BPCL was denied success by the Namdhari defenders, notably goalkeeper, Swinder Singh. At least one save merits description. Ravi Pal worked well down the line and crossed. Aiyamma connected the pass on top of the circle. Even as the ball flew dangerously, Swinder Singh palmed it with aplomb.
BPCL had six penalty corners in the match, and all their set pieces save for one were saved by Swinder Singh.
Eventually, Swinder was conquered when Sabu Virkey set up an astute forward pass from a penalty corner melee to facilitate a deflection from Aiyamma to hoist the match winner.
The Namdhari attack was spasmodic, with only Gurvinder Singh and Sukhjinder injecting an element of threat whenever they moved in tandem.
If only Sukhjinder's hit in the early minutes had not missed the target by that proverbial hair's breadth, the match would have been far more intense than it was.
The results:
Semifinals: BPCL 1 (Amar Aiyamma) bt Namdhari 0; HT- 0-0; Man of the Match: Amar Aiyamma; Indian Oil 3 (Deepak Thakur 2, Raghunath) bt Indian Airlines 0; HT - 3-0; Man of the Match: Deepak Thakur.
Monday's match: Final: BPCL v Indian Oil (6 p.m.).
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