Skipper Yuvraj Walmiki inspired Central Railway to a fluent 5-2 win over Union Bank of India in the 14th PMC Bank All India Guru Tegh Bahadur hockey tournament Friday.
The former international, from the field, hit the target in the seventh minute to give Central Railway the lead in the Group A game.
But, Central Railway's joy was short-lived as three minutes later Union Bank restored parity when Naveen Kheratkar tapped in Vinik Shettys square pass from the right.
On resumption, Central picked up steam and scored four goals, all from field attempts, to run away with the match.
In the third minute of the second period, Vinod Nair, with a long diagonal hit, found Walmiki in the clear and the latter turned round a defender and beat Union Bank goalkeeper Karan Thakur with a firm reverse crack.
Four minutes later, Central added the third goal when Vinit Kamble latched on to Victo Singh's forward pass and hit a rasping drive past Thakur.
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A further two minutes later, Walmiki did the spadework and set up Victo who was left with an easy task to tap in from close and put Central 4-1 ahead.
The railwaymen further increased the lead when Deepak Lakra sounded the board from another field effort in the 59th minute before Union Bank managed to reduce the margin of defeat with Vinit Shetty scoring the second goal in the final minute.
Central have finished with five points from one win and two draws and are currently in first position.
Air India and Punjab National Bank (PNB), both with four points each, are in joint second place.
They meet in the concluding group match Saturday and the outcome of the match will decide which two teams qualify for the semi-finals.
Earlier in a Group-B match, Central Secretariat defeated Hockey Bhopal 4-1 to register their third straight win in the group and are assured of qualifying for the semi-finals.
In the morning, South Central Railway, Secunderabad, recovered from a 0-2 deficit to hold Western Railway, Mumbai, to a 2-2 draw in a Group-B encounter.
Western took an early lead through Amit Gowda in the fifth minute and added the second through Dilip Pal in the 22nd minute.
The Secunderabad outfit fought back and reduced the deficit through Sandeep Kumar Singh's penalty corner conversion in the 34th minute.
Later, Kumar was on target again scoring the equaliser in the 41st minute.
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