Mumbai: Sabu Varkey’s thundering shot in the closing minutes brought Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) a second victory in the semifinal league and almost secured itself of a place in the title match of the 44th Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament.
BPCL defeated Western Railway 2-1 to boost its tally to six points from two matches. In another semifinal league match, Namdhari XI suffered its second straight defeat and ruled itself out of contention for a place in the final. The Namdharis lost 4-0 to the Bangalore-based Army XI.
At the Mahindra Stadium here on Tuesday, Len Aiyappa put BPCL ahead seven minutes after the break with a rare dragflick conversion.
The defending champion, Western Railway, saw a stroke of luck coming its way when Jayesh Jadhav thrust his stick to divert a long pass from Manish Sahai. The match appeared to be heading towards a draw, when Varkey hit a power-packed carpet drive to beat the rival goalkeeper Suraj Kanta.