Custodian Sudhir Dixit dished out a fine performance to help Union Bank of India hold fancied Western Railway to a 1-1 draw in a Pool 'B' league match of the 12th PMC Bank-Guru Tegh Bahadur All India Gold Cup Hockey Championship here today.
Showing good reflexes and anticipation, Dixit made some superb saves to restrict Western Railway attackers from scoring more than one goal.
The bankmen took the lead through Harjeet Singh, who scored from a penalty corner in the 30th minute, before Western managed to find the equaliser when Rajan Kadulina, from a reverse hit, sounded the board in the 42nd minute.
Western have 4 points from two games while Union Bank have two from as many matches.
In another Pool 'B' game, Punjab National Bank, Delhi, defeated Hockey Bhopal for their first win.
The bankers were beaten 3-1 by Western in the previous game while this was the second straight defeat for the Bhopal team who had lost 0-4 to CAG earlier.
Gagandeep sing scored two goals (5th and 53rd minutes), while Ranjit Singh (15th), Arjun Antil (56th), Sanjay (70th).
For Hockey Bhopal, Mehrajuddin netted two goals (57th and 62nd) and they got another through Nadeem Baig (35th).
P N Bank have 3 points from 2 games while the Bhopal side has one point from 3 games.
In a Pool 'A' game, Central Railway pumped in 9 goals against a hapless Mumbai Customs who managed to score two goals in the lop-sided encounter.
Nizam M (4th minute), Anup Walmiki (10th, 62nd), Yuvraj Walmiki (15th, 23rd, 40th), Deepak Lakra (26th)and Affan Yusuf (32nd, 49th) found the mark for Central for whom it was their second win in three games.
Joshua Vessaokar (6th) and Jayesh Jadhav (34th) were the goal scorers for the losers who suffered their third straight defeat in the pool and are out of reckoning for a semi final spot.
