Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) rallied from a goal in arrears to overcome Central Railway 3-1 in an all-Mumbai Pool-B league match of the Union Bank of India-52nd Bombay Gold Cup All India Hockey Tournament here today.
BPCL and Comptroller and Auditor General of India, who played out a 1-1 draw yesterday, finished with four points and have progressed to the quarter-finals from this pool.
CAG, who defeated local super league champions Central 5-2 in the first match, topped the pool on better goal difference with BPCL taking the second spot.
Earlier in a Pool D encounter, Punjab National Bank (PNB) scored twice in each half to comfortably defeat Indian Air Force (IAF) 4-0 in an all-Delhi contest to qualify for the last eight.
PNB meet Union Bank of India, who also made the knock-out rounds, in the last pool match tomorrow to decide the pool toppers.
For PNB, full-back Gagandeep Singh Jr. scored from a penalty corner in the 11th minute and later converted a penalty stroke in the 48th minute for the second and third goals.
In between his strikes, Shamsher Singh got the second goal in the 25th minute while Gagandeep Singh Sr. struck the fourth in the 59th minute to complete the tally.
The BPCL-Central match provided better sparks than the one-sided all-Delhi affair.
Central grabbed an early lead when Mohd. Nizamuddin put the finishing touch to Vinit Kamble's pass from the right in the eighth minute.
Stung to the quick by this early reversal, the star-studded BPCL outfit, comprising several Olympians and current and former internationals and a couple of junior India players in their ranks, regrouped and got their act together.
They started to launch a series of raids at the Central citadel, but found goalkeeper Avadhut Solankar a hard nut to crack. Solankar made some great saves to deny former teammate Devinder Walmiki and Md. Amir Khan to ensure his goal stayed intact at the end of the first half.
However, after switching ends, BPCL were all over the rival territory. The Central defenders suddenly started to make mistakes that were fully exploited by the BPCL attackers to score three quick goals.
Following a penalty corner, young Indian star Dipsan Tirkey pounced on a weak clearance to sound the boards in the 43rd minute and five minutes later Amir Khan capitalised on another defence lapse to score the second goal.
Later, veteran Tushar Khandkar - left unmarked inside the circle - coolly fired home with a firm angular drive in the 65th minute to secure the victory.
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