CRZ struggle to win

The Soenpat boys became a little complacent after their initial burst and struggled the find their rhythm going. As a result the match got slowed down and it well suited their rivals from Gumla. For the first 10 minutes the Sonepat boys on the ascendancy but failed to convert a couple of chances from close, thanks to a tight Gumla defence.

However, it was the Sonepat school which took the lead in the 23rd minute when they managed to convert their second penalty corner through skipper Sandeep Kumar. After the lead they went into shell and played out for the break.

On resumption, Gumla played with a plan and was successful in getting the equaliser, though it took 14 minutes of game in the second session. Dinesh Tirkey made no mistake with his first-timer as the team restored parity off their fourth penalty corner.

This goal rose the level of confidence in them and surged ahead with a goal in the 55th minute when Atal Kumar Tirkey slammed in a left cross. This was when the Sonepat boys pulled up their socks and were successful with two counter-attacks both bearing fruits. First, Deepak Kumar equalised when he struck the team’s second goal in the 63rd minute and within four minutes Jitender Saroha converted their fourth and last penalty corner to seal the fate of Gumla.

The Birsamunda boys, on the other hand, toyed with their rivals from Bangalore. Within four minutes into the game, Severen Barla put the team ahead but that was all they could do in the first half. After this goal, the team attempted and missed several scoring chances despite a lot of gaps to exploited.

All the while, the Bangalore boys looked like notices and struggled to get the ball possession.Things changed soon after the break as Barla came back strongly to strike twice to complete a fine hat-trick. Mangra Minz and Ranjit Minz accounted for the other two goals. With hardly any resistance from Bangalore boys, the Rourkela team should have struck a couple of more goals but they seemed contend with what they had achieved.