Mumbai : Indian Oil and Air India will once battle it out for supremacy in the MHAL (Mumbai Hockey Association Limited) Super Division League 2015.
Indian Oil scored a 5-3 win against Namdhari XI in the Pool-A league match. The oilmen topped the pool with 16 points from five wins and one draw.
Indian Oil full back Bikramjit Singh scored two goals from a penalty stroke in the 39th minute and a penalty corner in the 61st minute, while Prabhjot Singh (36th), Gagandeep Singh (64th) and Deepak Thakur (69th) got the other three goals. For Namdhari XI their penalty corner specialist Bhagat Singh converted their first penalty corner in the 7th and then scored from a penalty stroke in the 46th minute before Shamsher Singh netted the third in the 57th minute.
Earlier, Air India clawed their way back to overcome Union Bank of India by a tight 4-3 margin in the final Pool-B league match. Air India finished on top of the pool with 16 points from five wins and a draw. The airmen did not have a smooth ride as the young Union Bank players put up a good attacking display against their more fancied opponents who comprised several former Indian stars in their ranks. Union Bank rocked the AI citadel when Thockchum slot home past AI goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh in the 6th minute. AI after a couple of missed attempts found the equaliser when Prithvi Raj converted their third short corner.
After switching ends Thockchum scored for the bankers. The experienced AI came back nicely scoring two goals through Cheeyanna (50th) and Pillay (56th) to take the lead before Union Bank drew level when Sharma with a fine diving effort got the third goal in the 60th minute.
However, Air India scored again in the 65th minute through captain Shivendra Singh to seal the win. Simranpreet Singh (Namdhari XI) and Nirmal Chinnappa (AI) were later declared as the ‘Man-of-the-match’.
