Big guns A-I, BPCL crash out

In the 14th minute, Suresh beat two defenders, accepted a shallow wall pass at the top of the circle by Vijay Alphonso and beat Air-India goalkeeper Edgar Mascarenhas with a rising deflection.

The second Customs goal came in the 43rd minute. Pivot and ex-international Rahul Singh harnessed unmarked left-winger Ashish Gonsalves with a long forward pass. The latter’s feeble reverse hit was blocked by Air-India ‘keeper Edgar but the dangerous Suresh, who was lying handy, scooped into goal before the Air-India defenders could clear the ball.

The lone Air-India goal came late in the match. Left-winger Edward Aranha scored in his inimitable style, sweeping the ball to the boards after Kishore Kumar and Rajesh Chouhan had done the spadework.

WESTERN IMPRESS: Western, who had barely scraped past SAI in the quarter-finals of Wednesday, were a different lot on Thursday.

Chanderpal wrested the lead in the 18th minute with an angular reverse hit from the right. Mukhtiar then made 2-0 in the 35th minute when he scored in similar fashion but from a much more acute angle.

The third Western goal resulted from a stroke’ which resulted after defender Ajay Kumar Saroha fouled Chanderpal who was ideally place to score. Muktiar converted with a scoop to the roof at the left of BPCL ‘keeper BU Boppanna.

The final between Customs and Western will be played on Saturday at 4 pm after a rest day on Friday.