Mumbai edge past Bengal

Mumbai edge past Bengal

Chennai, July 10: Mumbai XI kept their chances of progressing to the next grade alive when they beat Bengal XI 2-1 in their group league match in the MCC-Murugappa Hockey tournament here on Monday.

Mumbai played well. There was good rapport between the forwards and the medios, unlike Sunday's match against Tamil Nadu which they lost.

Mumbai drew first blood in the 10th minute through Shantha Kumar off a pass by Manoj Lokhande and in the 18th minute, Rajat Minz pass to Petrus Ekka resulted in Bengal finding the equaliser. In the fifth minute of second half, Mumbai achieved their second penalty corner of six in the match and Sunil Kumar converted for 2-1.

Earlier, Karnataka beat Indian Hockey Federation XI 2-1. Both Mumbai and Karnataka, each with three points from two matches, have one more match to play for progressing to thee semi-finals. IHF and Bengal, who have lost all their three matches, were out of the tournament.

In the match between Karnataka and IHF Juniors, the last 15 minutes play was thrilling. Karnataka were able to combine well and raided the IHF citadel often but the defenders, Len Ayyappa and Bikramjit Singh were in hand to deny a good look at their goal. However, IHF came in sharp focus midway the first half but they, like in their earlier two matches, lacked the finish.

The going was not easy for Karnataka also despite their thrust in the second half. But they broke the monotony in the 21st minute of second half collecting a tailormade pass from John Verghese, Cyprind Aind dodged past two defenders and beat the goal-keeper. Six minutes later, Kamal Horo made it 2-0.

IHF were able to reduce the margin in the 29th minute, through Amarjit Pratap. Then on, IHF players were in full cry and achieved three penalty corners. The ball remained in the Karnataka circle for the last four minutes and once, IHF almost scored but for the goalline save by Krishna Reddy of Karnataka.