Shanta strikes equaliser for W Railways

Shanta strikes equaliser for W Railways
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MUMBAI, JANUARY 19: A fine goal by Shanta Kumar, two minutes from the final hooter, enabled Western Railway to salvage a point against Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) with a 2-2 draw in the Bombay Hockey Association Super hockey league at the Mahindra Stadium on Wednesday.

It was Western who had taken the lead in the 30th minute through Mukhtiar Singh. BPCL, however, not only wiped off the deficit but wrested the lead with goals by Ravi Nayakar and Sandeep Somesh in the 33rd and 35th minutes.

In the second-half, in which tempers frayed and captain Sunil Kumar of Western and Ashwinder Singh of BPCL were shown yellow cards, BPCL saw more of the ball but Western capitalised on one of their several menacing stray raids through Shanta at the fag end after BPCL's Ashwinder was shown the yellow card.

With this division of points, BPCL maintained their unbeaten run and have garnered 16 points from six outings. Western have aggregated 13 points from six games.

In the other Super League tie, Mumbai Customs trouncedMaharashtra State Police 4-0. For Customs, who have lost a tie, this was the second victory from three games. The policemen suffered their fourth defeat and have only two points from six games. Romeo Albuquerque, Adoph Colaco, Rahul Singh and Stanley Fernandes scored in that order for Customs who led 1-0 at the breather.

The Western-BPCL clash began at a brisk pace. Pivot Sandesh Somesh missed a sitter for BPCL in the fourth minute and at the other end, Mukhtiar shot wide off an open target.

BPCL, who had a better share of the exchanges initially, were awarded a stroke when a goalbound ball was stopped by Western defender Sunil Kumar with his foot. But Western 'keeper Sanjay Rathi, who gave a good account of himself, dived to his right and saved the push taken by BPCL's MK Prasad in the 10th minute.

Goalkeeper Rathi confidently blocked a rasping drive by Sabu Varkey in the 17th minute before the Western forwards made their presence felt and pressurised the BPCL defence in a sustained manner. Theirefforts bore fruit in the 30th minute when Mukhtiar neatly converted a stroke, which resulted after Western's Chanderpal's effort rolled onto BPCL defender Ashwinder's foot after goalkeeper Joaquim Fernandes was beaten.

Western's joy, however, was short-lived as BPCL struck twice in the span of three minutes, commencing in the 33rd minute. First, Ravi Nayakar's feeble shot trickled to the boards after beating Western defender Sunil Kumar on the goalline. And next, Nayakar paved the way for pivot Sandeep Somesh to make it 2-1 following an indirect penalty corner.

In the second-half, BPCL tried to consolidate the lead, while Western were threatening with their stray raids. Western's once such move resulted in the equaliser by Shanta, who scored with a neat reverse hit past goalkeeper Joaquim.