Easy outings for Air India, Indian Oil

Strong title contenders, Air India and Indian Oil, both won their respective Super Division matches by handsome margins in the PMC Bank-MHAL (Mumbai Hockey Association Limited) League at the MHAL Stadium, Churchgate, here, on Wednesday.

While in the afternoon, Air India, former champions on several occasions, scored an authoritative 9-1 win against an out of sorts Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers in the opening match of the day, Indian Oil after being restricted to just two goals in the first half, came out all guns blazing in the second session, hammering home six goals during this period to record a huge 8-2 victory against Rhema Sports.

Air India, boasting of many former Indian stars in their rank, ran roughshod against their opponents and did not give them any chance to settle down. The airmen were clinical in their approach as they easily broke down the RCF defence and scored at regular intervals to open up a commanding 5-0 half-time lead. They relaxed the pace in the second but still managed to add four more goals to complete the rout. Penalty corner specialist, drag flicker Gaganpreet Singh and midfleider V.S. Vinaya scored two goals each, while Sameer Dad, Lalit Upadhyay, Joga Singh, Shivendra Singh and skipper Prabodh Tirkey added the other five goals scoring one apiece. Mayur Patil scored the lone consolation goal for the losers.

Later in the afternoon, Indian Oil encounter a good, spirited fight from Rhema Sports and managed just two strikes in the first session. Rhema did well to match their more illustrious opponents and had the better chances and were denied twice in quick succession inside the opening 10 minutes. First Momo did well to cut in from the left, got past an onrushing Indian Oil goalkeeper but his reverse hit was saved on the line by defender Vikramkanth and from the clearance Laxman Rao's try was cleared away by Gurjinder Singh.

Rao finally found success with a snap angular hit from the left side to put Rhema in front in the 12th minute. However, the oilmen did not take too long to draw level as their ace drag flicker Gurjinder Singh scored from their second penalty corner in the 14th minute. Later, Indian Oil captitalised on a defensive lapse when the Rhema defenders failed to cut off Prabhjot Singh's feeble push into the circle. S.K. Uthappa seized the opportunity and in a flash sounded the boards to give his team a 2-1 lead in the 32nd minute.

In the second half, Indian Oil put a better display and mounted pressure on the Rhema defence which fell apart. Captain Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh, both hit the target twice, while Inder Singh Chadha and Gagandeep Singh got the other two goals. Anand Gaikwad got the second goal for Rhema in the final minute.

In an evening match which finished late, Central Secretariat showed solid fighting spirit and produced a determined fightback in the last five minute to force a creditable 4-4 draw with Punjab National Bank.

Results: Super Division: Air India 9 (Gaganpreet Singh 4th, 39th, Sameer Dad 7th, VS Vinaya 25th, 27th, Lalit Upadhyay 35th, Joga Singh 50th, Shivendra Singh 58th, Prabhodh Tirkey 63rd) beat Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers 1 (Mayur Patil 49th); Indian Oil 8 (Gurjinder Singh 12th, S.K. Uthappa 32nd, Inder Singh Chadha 43rd, Deepak Thakur 45th, 47th, Prabhjot Singh 48th, 52nd, Gagandeep Singh 54th) beat Rhema Sports 2 (Laxman Rao 12th, Anand Gaikwad 69th); Punjab National Bank 4 (Ajitesh Roy 7th, Sonu Kumar 10th, Hardeep Singh 22, Jitender Saroha 58th) drew with Central Secretariat 4 (M. Gunasekar 12th, 56th, Jayesh Jadhav 65th, 67th)