ONGC edge past BPCL to top pool in Murugappa hockey

CHENNAI - Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) snatched a dramatic 4-3 win over Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) to top Pool A with an unbeaten record in the 85th All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament here Thursday.

ONGC, having won all their four league matches, finished with 12 points ahead of BPCL who have nine points from three wins. The result was of academic interest since both teams had already qualified for the semi-finals.

ONGC take on Army XI (No.2 in Pool B) and BPCL face Indian Oil (No.1 in Pool B) in the semi-finals scheduled for Saturday after Friday’s rest.

The game was a comedy of errors with the rival defenders seen in poor light as the teams took turns to dictate the exchanges.

Jagwant (20th), Bikash (24th), Pramod (68th) and Diwakar Ram (70th) scored for ONGC who initially led 2-0 but trailed 3-4 before recovering to strike late goals to notch the win.

For BPCL, Jarnail Singh (31st, 60th) and Prabhdeep Singh (55th) scored, capitalizing on some unforgiveable defensive lapses.

The story was much the same at the other end where the BPCL defenders were rather cumbersome in their movements to allow ONGC forwards considerable freedom. It was another matter that the rival forwards missed several sitters.

Later, in the concluding league fixture of no consequence, the Indian Railways steamed past Punjab National Bank 3-2 to finish third in pool B. Mahendra (2nd), Innocent Kullu (55th) and Kuldeep Singh (60th, penalty stroke) scored for the Railways while PNB replied through Damandeep Singh (13th) and Yudhvir Singh (43rd).

The match was marred by boorish behaviour by the PNB players who first protested the penalty stroke against them and then claimed for one in the last minute. They jostled Umpire Gnanasambandham, but got away without even a warning, much less a yellow card suspension.

After the game, a section of the crowd pelted the PNB bench with water bottles before peace was restored.

Following are the final positions of teams (read under - Matches Played, Won, Drawn, Lost, Goals For, Goals Against, Goal Difference, Points):

ONGC 4 4 0 0 15 6 +9 12

Bharat Petroleum 4 3 0 1 11 5 +6 9

Air India 4 1 1 2 6 11 -2 4

Karnataka XI 4 0 2 2 7 11 -4 2

IOB 4 0 1 3 3 9 -6 1

Pool B

Indian Oil 4 4 0 0 12 4 +8 12

Army XI 4 3 0 1 8 4 +4 9

Indian Railways 4 2 0 2 6 5 +1 6

Punjab National Bank 4 1 0 3 8 11 -3 3

Mumbai XI 4 0 0 4 5 15 -10 0.