Western sideline Indian Navy

Western Railway grabbed a psychological advantage over Indian Navy ahead of their title clash in the MHAL Super League when the former beat the latter 2-1 in their concluding league encounter at the MHAL Stadium,Churchgate,on Monday evening. Attacking midfielder Chinglen Sana scored a goal in each half for the railway outfit,while Rana Pratap managed to reduce the margin for the sailors in the final 10 minutes of the match.

This win for Western has ensured that they finish at the top of the nine-team standings with 21 points from seven wins and a lone defeat. Navy who suffered their first defeat,move down a rung into second position with 19 points from six wins and a draw against SAI in their opening fixture of the league. Both Western and Navy will battle it out for the top honours in the final on Wednesday.

Western broke the deadlock when Sana successfully converted his team’s third penalty corner. The energetic and enterprising midfielder Sana doubled Western’s lead when he deflected home Vinod Kumar’s pass from the left in the 57th minute.

The Navy outfit continued to put up a good fight and got on the scoreboard when Rana Pratap’s push from their second penalty corner went in off a defenders stick in the 61stminute.

Chinglen Sana was later adjudged the ‘man of the match’ and was presented a cash award of Rs 1,000.

Results

Western Railway 2 (Chinglen Sana 2) bt Indian Navy 1 (Rana Pratap).