IOC defends Murugappa Hockey title

Title holders Indian Oil Corporation beat Indian Overseas Bank 6-4 in the final of the 88th MCC Murugappa Hockey tournament here today.
IOC's veteran players Deepak Thakur and forward Prabhjot Singh shared six goals between them and were rightly adjudged as best forward and man-of-the-match respectively.
For IOB, Rupinder Singh (2), S M Rafeeq and Aman Deep Ekka were the scorers.
With home support behind them, IOB displayed initial exuberance but were pushed back by the experienced IOC side.
IOC's Deepak and Prabhjot played in tandem to split the IOB's defence.
An opportunist Deepak broke the ice in the seventh minute with a field goal after Vikram Kanth's initial shot was saved by goal-keeper P R Sreejesh.

With IOC's adopting an attacking approach, the IOB players fell back to defend their citadel.

A n alert Sreejesh under the IOB bar made some great saves to deny the Oilmen on couple of occasions.
But in the 25th minute, Deepak scored another from inside the circle after receiving a pass from Dharamvir Singh.
A minute from the break, Prabhjot made the scoreline 4-0 in favour of IOC.
After the change of ends, IOB bounced back in great fashion.
Defender Rupinderpal Singh made good use of their second penalty corner to open their account in the 40th minute.
After Deepak Thakur made the score 5-1 in favour of IOC, their dominance came to a halt as the Bankmen played with more aggression.

Rupinder netted his second goal via a penalty stroke when IOC's Vikash Sharma was hauled up for infringement.
Prabhjot the made good use of a Bharath Chikara cross in the 55th minute to make it 6-2 in favour of IOC.
But IOB's Rafeeq and Amar Deep Ekka pulled two goals back before the Oilmen managed to hold on to their lead.