Green Meadows, who made it a habit of fighting back late in earlier matches, scared the cops with a first-half goal by star centre-forward Laxman Sharma. But the policemen, not quite interested in playing bridesmaid for the third tourney in a row, struck rapid-fire blows in the second half with spearhead Raju Aspat scoring two and right-winger Sanjay Muthiah one. Only for the ebullient Meadows right-half Shyam Sharma to pull one back with two minutes to go as the side from Shivaji Nagar showed every intention of taking the match into the golden goal period.

That was not to be, however, and the policemen held fort desperately for a deserving win that made amends for runners-up berths in the Senior League and the Aga Khan tournament held just prior.

The 9-3 penalty-corner count reflected Pune City Police's edge and the cops' ascendancy must have pleased Police Commissioner KK Kashyap who paid a fleeting visit at the final. Also watching were Chief Guest Arnold Pachaco -- a vintage player of yesteryear and Guest of Honour Dr John Almeida -- applauding a vigorously fought final.

The Meadows pitch was the cops headquarters for an overwhelming majority of the first half. A travesty, then, that Meadows scored in the 17th minute -- a sneak raid into enemy territory found man-of-the-match Kamlesh Oswal determinedly dribbling into the circle despite uncompromising attendance. The predatory Laxman Sharma needed no prompting and a mighty wallop found the boards amid a surprised defence.

City Police restored parity through centre-forward Raju Aspat who accepted Sanjay Muthaiya's pass within a minute after half-time. The cops shot ahead when Sanjay Muthaiah delivered the coup de grace from his side's eighth penalty corner and five minutes later Pune City Police's ninth such award led to a two-goal cushion. Aspat was at hand to deflect home to make it 3-1 in the 65th minute but Green Meadows were far from finished. A string of attractive and dangerous moves by winger Oswal, Shyam Sharma and his marauding brother Laxman softened Pune City Police's citadel.

Oswal, who must have edged Shyam by a whisker in bagging the man-of-the-match award, found his right-half in a quick raid with two minutes remaining. Sharma pushed home without ado to narrow it down to 2-3 and went agonisingly close moments later as the cops looked vulnerable. But the scores remained unaltered even as City Police were found back-pedalling in their circle as the long whistle was blown.

The winners collected Rs 5,000 as first cash prize while Green Meadows had to make do with Rs 3,000. A well-run tourney ended with a fine gesture by the organisers who presented Rs 500 to ten deserving young players seen in action.

Bouquets all the way for the winners and runners up and a blazer for senior umpire Harry Anthony. Well done Old Boys!

`Promising player' awards
Waheed Pathan (Champions SC); Clement D'Souza (VOBA); Sagar Kadam (Friends Union); Mangesh Bhosle (Vande Mataram); Arvind Sonawne (Kirkee Union); Sachin Godse and Sachin Bhosle (Joseph's Pride); Prakash Pawar (Priyadarshini B); Amit Sapkal (Green Meadows) and Sailesh Sawant (Kids XI).