MUMBAI, OCT 7: The fate of fancied Bharat Petroleum hangs in limbo. They have just 12 minutes of play left, and trail Customs by a goal. The game was abandoned after several claps of thunder, fading light and an irreverent downpour conspired to create unplayable conditions at Mahindra Stadium today. The remaining 12 minutes of the first round 38th Bombay Gold Cup match will be played in the morning.Customs wrested the lead in the 53rd minute through Suresh Pereira who neatly deflected home a long hit by Adolf Colaco. The goal came against the run of play and at a time when Bharat Petroleum were in full cry.BPCL took the field without the indisposed Asian Games gold medallist Sandeep Somesh. But the presence of Olympians Ravi Nayakar and Sabu Varkey, and internationals SS Gill, MK Prakash and Jude Menezes at goal should have been reassuring. But Customs matched their opponents move for move. Such was the penetration Suresh Pereira, Errol D'Silva and Adolf Colaco achieved that Sabu Varkey fell back, ina bid to stem the rot.The first chance came Customs way in the 21st minute following the first penalty-corner of the game. But Customs pivot Rahul Singh shot wide when ideally placed. Another try by Suresh Pereira was foiled by goalkeeper Menezes.Sabu opened up late in the final minute of the first half, with a sizzling counter. Stealing the ball from Errol at the left flag in his own half, Sabu moved up down the centre, accelerated past three defenders, and passed to Deepak Sharma at right. Sharma fumbled.Customs goalkeeper Anson Thomas kept up the good work in the second half. First he confidently padded away a Sharma attempt and minutes later, blocked a stiff attempt by Aiyamma. Anson was hurt while foiling Aiyamma and play was stopped for ten minutes.Customs then took the lead through Suresh in the 53rd minute. Thereafter it was a tussle between the BP forwards and the Customs defence before play was called off.ASAD KHAN 'TRICKS: Promising junior international Asad Khan provided thedelight earlier in the afternoon, rounding off Tatas 7-0 rout of Bank of India with an opportune hat-trick.After a sedate first half, Tatas pressed on the accelerator in the second, spreading out a half-line dragnet that Bank of India could only bang their heads against. Captain Enrico Fernandes (2), Bipin Fernandes and Claes Ferreira were the other goal-getters. Tatas meet Sikh Regiment in the second round.EASY FOR WESTERN: Western Railway swamped Young Sports 8-0 after leading 3-0 at the interval. Western meet Bengal XI next.Muktiar Singh (3), Chanderpal Singh (2), Shanta Kumar, Deepak Gupta, Gursev Singh were the goal-getters for Western.MPT RALLY: Mumbai Port Trust, who were trailing by a goal at the breather, rallied to oust BHA President XI 2-1. Deepak Kotian and Mumtaz Ahmed netted for the winners after Tanveer Shaikh had given President's XI the lead.
