Mumbai : Reigning champions Indian Oil rode on Roshan Minz’s fine hat-trick to steal a 5-3 win against Indian Navy in a closely contested Pool-A match of the MHAL (Mumbai Hockey Association Limited) Super Division League 2015 and played at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate on Monday.
Sunil Yadav and Deepak Thakur got the other two goals for the oilmen, who were not at their usual best. Indian Navy who played with grit and determination managed to score through the efforts of Suman Kindo, Faheem Khan and Ved Prakash. This was the first win for Indian Oil who had drawn 2-2 with Rhema Sports in their opening fixture.
Later in a Pool-B match played in the evening under lights, Air India recorded a tactical 1-0 win against Central Secretariat for their third success in the competition. Pawan Kumar scored the all-important winning goal in the 10th minute. Central Secretariat fought well and worked hard but poor finishing let them down.
In the first match of the day, Punjab National Bank (PNB) after leading 1-0 at half-time, pumped in four more goals in the second session to register a comfortable 5-0 win against Abhi Foundation.
PNB skipper and penalty corner specialist Jitender Saroha converted three penalty corners in the 12th, 53rd and 68th minutes, while teammates Jugraj Singh from another short corner in the 59th minute and Hardeep Singh 64th minute got the other two goals.
Jitender Saroha (Punjab National Bank), Roshan Minz (Indian Oil) and Pawan Kumar (Air India) were adjudged the ‘Man-of-the-match’ in their respective matches and all three received a cash award of Rs 1,000 each.