Favourites Indian Oil retained the Beighton Cup hockey title, outplaying Punjab National Bank (PNB) 5-2 in the title clash in Kolkata on Sunday.
Indian Oil, which led 2-0 at half time, scored through Gurjinder Singh, Vikash Sharma, Roshan Minz (2) and Deepak Thakur while Jalwinder Singh and Lakhwinder Singh reduced the margin for PNB.
This was Indian Oil’s third triumph in four finals they played since 2009. With a number of Olympians in their fold, there was no doubt about Indian Oil’s superiority in the match.
While with Olympians Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur along with Roshan Minz combining well, Indian Oil put up a barrage of attacks in both the halves and scored at regular intervals.
Though bankmen tried to put up some fight through Ravinder Teota and Jalvinder Singh and managed to score two goals through counter attacks, that was not enough to breach the strong Indian Oil defence led by custodian Devesh Chauhan.
Indian Oil’s first goal came through Gurjinder Singh from a penalty corner inside 12 minutes. Bikash Sharma doubled the scoreline for the high-profile side hitting the board with a reverse stick in the 31st minute.
After the change of ends, PNB reduced the margin through a field goal from Jalwinder Singh.
But before the bankmen could regroup for another assault, Indian Oil took control over the proceedings and increased their tally in the 38th minute with fine goal from Roshan Minz (3-1).
Minz scored his second goal of the day in the 59th minute to make it 4-1 for IOC.
PNB, featuring only in their second Beighton Cup after making the semis last year, tried to forge a comeback and reduced the gap again with a penalty corner goal from Lukwinder Singh in the 68th minute.
But IOC, playing in the finals for four years in a row since their debut in 2009, blasted one more salvo in the dying seconds through Deepak Thakur, whose total goal tally in the competition was the highest with eight goals, including a hat-trick.