Mumbai : Holders Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) overwhelmed a lacklustre Indian Oil in a disappointing semi final contest between two Bengaluru teams spruced up by current and former internationals in the Dabang Mumbai 50th Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament here on Tuesday. BPCL won the largely one-sided clash 4-2 with the final goal of the game by last year’s runners-up Indian Oil coming in the very last minute of the game which helped the losers reduce the margin of defeat. In the final today, BPCL would face Comptroller and Audit General of Delhi. The latter edged out local outfit Western Railway 4-2 in the tie-break after the teams were locked 2-2 a the end of 70 minutes’ play.
The first semi finals promised exciting fare but proved to be a let-down with Indian Oil, looking listless for the major part of the game. They, in fact, secured five penalty corners and despite possessing two top drag-flickers in current international V R Raghunath and Gurjinder Singh, could score only off the last one – and that too in an indirect manner when captain and veteran forward Deepak Thakur found the target. Thakur had scored earlier with an angular effort in the 11th minute to bring IOon level terms after Ravi Pal had given BPCL an 8th minute lead by scooping goalwards after cutting in from the left byline and the ball was deflected in by an Indian Oil defender in a goalmouth scrimmage.
