MVHA drew first blood, scoring through Benjamin Fernandes before BS Kuttappa equalised for Tatas. But Navyman D Bara got one back immediately to put MVHA 2-1 ahead. D Bara put MVHA 3-1 up, before Fernandes struck the crucial goal for Tatas.

Meanwhile, Tatas have lodged a protest against MVHA for having fielded 18 players in their three league matches, two more than the stipulated 16. But sources said that the protest was unlikely to be heeded,as the rules reportedly says that a team can field 16 players for each match, thereby implying that teams could include additional players for other matches.In another match, Olympian Marcellus Gomes proved his fitness and ball sense were still intact, as he spearheaded Mahindras' 3-0 win over Customs.

Marcellus scored the first goal after combining well with Reginald Pereira.H Adrian and Nitin Ullal completed the Mahindras tally, as the Customs defence struggled to come to terms with age, aching muscles and the marauding Mahindras men.

In Saturday's semi-finals, Tatas will meet Combined Banks, who topped Group B with an all-win record. The other semi-final will be contested by Pool A toppers MVHA and Mahindras.

Results

Pool A: Western Railway 6 (Chandrashekar 3, Hari Mohan, Sunil Kumar, S Shailendra) bt BoI 0; MVHA 3 (Benjamin Fernandes, D Bara 2) bt Tatas 2 (BS Kuttappa, Francis Fernandes); Pool B: Mahindras 3 (Marcellus Gomes, H Adrian, Nitin Ullal) bt Customs 0; RBI 2 (Reggie Gonsalves,Trevor Fernandes) bt Customs 1 (Hasanji Choudhary).