SCR meet their waterloo in Navy

SCR meet their waterloo in Navy
RAYMOND FERNANDES

MUMBAI, JANUARY 14: South-Central Railway (SCR) of Secundrabad, who had trounced Mumbai’s Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers 3-0 in the first-round, got a dose of their own medicine when they were outplayed 0-4 by Mumbai’s Indian Navy in a second-round game of the 39th All-India Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament at the Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate, on Sunday.

Navy, who now take on Border Security Force (Jalandhar) in the pre-quarter-finals, were a cut above their opponents and did them in with their superior pace and fine understanding, especially between their speedy attackers, namely Manoj Lokhande, Amin-Ul-Haque and captain PL Murugappan, all three of whom slammed a goal each.

The sailors notched their opening goal via a penalty-corner in the sixth minute through Robindro Singh Okram, while the other three were all field goals.South-Central, who had impressed in their opening encounter, were all at sea in today’s match. Their forwards had to fend for themselves as their was no help forthcoming from the intermediate line, while their defence caved in to the well-spread out and swift counter-attacks of the sailors.

Linkman Robindro gave the sailors a fine start. He found the mark following Navy’s first penalty-corner in the sixth, following a precise square pass by full-back HS Bhist at the top of the circle.

South-Central threatened to restore parity in the 20th minute. But Navy goalkeeper Kalu Ram came to his side’s rescue by confidently blocking a powerful shot by Paul Moses, at the expense of an abortive corner.Navy celebrated that close miss by scoring a second time in the 23rd minute. Spearhead Manoj Lokhande and roving attacker Amin-Ul-Haque combined to a nicety in a one-two move against the run of play on the left flank, before ‘‘Mania’’ neatly drag-flicked the ball over SCR goalkeeper Tagore Babu, who had left his charge in order to tackle the Navy forward.

The match was as good as over when the sailors forged 3-0 ahead in the 38th minute. Haque scored a fine opportunistic goal after Lokhande was blocked by SCR goalkeeper Tagore at the top of the circle. Captain Murugappan rounded-off the Navy tally with a gem of a shot from the top of the circle in the 44th minute.