Solid ONGC thump PNB
DH News Service, Bengaluru, Sep 1 2017, 1:10 IST
keen tussle Punjab National Bank's Shamsher Singh (left) and Harpal Singh of ONGC vie for the ball during their game on Thursday. DH Photo
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) produced a solid performance in the second period to outclass Punjab National Bank (PNB) 4-1 in the men’s section of the 3rd Bangalore Cup All India invitation tournament at the Hockey Stadium here on Thursday.
In an action-packed first half, Gurjinder Singh opened the scoring for PNB in the ninth minute but Mithilesh levelled the scores seven minutes later. ONGC turned up the heat in the second half, scoring three quick goals through Suman Kujur (42nd), Jagwant Singh (50th) and Navjot Singh (52nd) to seal the tie in their favour.
Later, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) were held to a 2-2 draw by South Central Railway (SCR).
Kusha JP (12th) and Ankit Nath (18th ) struck for SCR while Roshan Minz (8th) and Deepak Thakur (47th) scored for IOCL.
The ONGC-PNB game began on an even keel, with both the teams going toe-to-toe with each other in the first few minutes. After a good passage of pass and play, PNB drew the first blood through Gurjinder, who made no mistake in finding the back of the net from inside the striking circle.
The goal however didn’t deter ONGC’s confidence as they struck back immediately through Mithilesh in the 16th minute.
The teams were locked 1-1 at half-time.
ONGC came out all guns blazing after the break and went ahead through Kujur, whose drag-flick from a penalty corner hit a defender’s stick before finding the back of the net.
Down 1-2, PNB pushed hard and won a penalty corner in the 45th minute but ONGC custodian Simranpreet made a good block to deny Gagandeep.
From then on, ONGC took control of the game and soon increased their tally through Jagwant, who created space from himself inside the opponent’s circle before directing his shot into the net past the helpless PNB goalkeeper Jasbir Singh.
A minute later, Navjot added another with a simple tap-in.
DH News Service
Results: Men: ONGC: 4 (Mithilesh 16th, Suman Kujur 42nd, Jagwant Singh 50th, Navjot Singh 52nd) bt PNB: 1 (Gurjinder Singh 9th); IOCL: 2 (Roshan Minz 8th, Deepak Thakur 47th) drew with SCR: 2 (Kusha JP 12th, Ankit Nath 18th).
Women: MPCA: 3 (Manmeet Kaur 12th, Neeraj Rana 32nd, Priyanka Wankhede 40th) bt SER: 2 (Punam Madhuri Tete 55th, Binita Xess 67th); Hockey Haryana: 2 (Poonam 46th, Jaspreet Kaur 55th) bt Hockey Maharashtra: 1 (Jaswinder Kaur 45th).