Republicans had scalped Rizvi and Union Bank on their way to this quarter-final match. And they nearly caused another upset when one of the patented penalty corner routines -- Mukul Pandey pushing to Romeo Albuquerque and Romeo relaying it back for Mukul to hit in from a tight angle -- nearly worked in the final minutes of the game.

Republicans, down 0-2, had pulled one back in the 51st minute through a fluke goal. Rajinder Singh's cross from the left got the required deflection from Sairam Vishnoi's stick to beat the bemused Tatas defence.

Tatas defence, which was rock solid till then, looked tense until Republicans missed from the penalty corner. Then Tatas played out time.

It was a brilliant performance again from Republicans who held their own against the formidable opponents. Republicansvirtually had only two cracks at the Tatas citadel -- the reducing goal and the penalty corner which beat the Tatas defence but missed the target.

Tatas, playing their first match of the tournament, looked rusty until they got their first goal. There seemed to be no connection between the defence, midfield and forwards. The defence was good with Jyoti Mohite in the first half and Weldon Miranda in the second half taking turns to mark Republicans playmaker, 19-year-old Stanley Fernandes.

Because Stanley was well marked off and Vijay Alphonso had an off-day, Tatas defence had an easier time.

But their problem was in midfield. Though half-backs Enrico Fernandes, Viren Rasquinha and Claes Pereira were playing well within themselves, they were not able to combine with their forwards -- the bustling duo of Manoj Lokhande and Raju Bagade.

But a beautiful move for Tatas first goal seemed to lubricate their combination. Enrico from the centre passed to Claes on the left who turned the ball to Bagade. With theRepublican defence nowhere in sight, Bagade pushed the ball past goalkeeper Sailesh Negi's right side.

Then the Tatas forward-line functioned better. They held possession and with the superior speed of Bagade and Lokhande, they stretching the Republicans defence wide open.

The second goal came five minutes later in the 43rd minute when Bagade was stick-checked and Lokhande converted the penalty stroke.

Tatas meet RCF in the second semi-final while the first semi-final pits bank of India against Indian Navy.