Goodwill, Friends Union begin well

PUNE, May 28: Goodwill Sports Club got off to a flyer putting across half a dozen goals against a hapless 512 Army Base Workshop ABW, whil...

PUNE, May 28: Goodwill Sports Club got off to a flyer putting across half a dozen goals against a hapless 512 Army Base Workshop ABW, while Friends Union scored a fluent 4-2 win over Joseph8217;s Pride to make the next stage of the III KCB President8217;s Trophy 8212; in memory of Late Babu Nimal, member of the 1936 gold medal National Olympic squad.

For ardent onlookers at the Ammunition Factory Kirkee AFK ground, the game was a welcome comeback which was evident from the fact that a sizable sum turned out to witness hockey, which has been predominant in the area. The Kirkee crowd for the record are witness to a tournament after a lapse of over two years with, the primary reason being the Poligras Stadium 8212; which has come into being as the modern day surface to make the game attractive.

With the day being hounded by one sided affairs, Goodwill fresh from their triumph in the Dr Erin Nagarwala tournament dominated right from the word go. With seven minutes logged on the clock and no noteworthy move emanating from either side which was owing to the natural8217; playing surface, Goodwill broke the deadlock when a combined effort by Ajay Shirke and Gunashekhar Tambi paid off in a goal with the latter tucking home.

The game thereafter settled into an listless fare with the players from either team focusing more on getting acclimatised with the ground rather than pushing hard to score.

However, Goodwill in a break-away on the right flank made it 2-0 when Shekhar Parmanand evading 512 ABW8217;s defenders S Ghadge and S L Jadhav drove well below the legs of custodian N T Kale who was too quick8217; in going for clearance.

Changing ends, 152 ABW were defenders all through the half. A minute after resumption Goodwill8217;s Ajay Shirke-Gunashekhar did well to make ground way into their opponents D8217; but had the former miss the push with the odd bounce which the ground offered with just the custodian up-front.

Goodwill made it 3-0 in the 34th minute. Medio Sikander Jaffer playing a through ball to Shekhar inside the circle had the custodian leave charge and temporarily thwart Shekhar8217;s charge but offer a rebound to the converging Gunashekhar who tapped ino the empty goal.

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The 512 ABW defence of A D Mhsake, D B Pawar Ghadge were joined in by medios M Anthony and Ravi Ugade as a desperate bid to arrest Godwill8217;s run, but failed miserably. Goodwill scored their fourth when Rocky Anthony8217;s crack on goal from the edge of the circle slowed in its approach, allowing Ajay to knock home a sitter.

Thereafter, Rocky 50th made it 5-0, while Kiran Khairale 58th converted a stroke awarded by umpire S S Thapa when he pulled up the 512 ABW custodian for squatting on the ball, to round up the tally.

In the other encounter, Friends Union rode on the brace of Vishal Megharathi 10th amp; 24th minutes to knock out Joseph8217;s Pride, with Sagar Kadam 38th and Kamlesh Rajan 40th completing the tally for the losers.For Joseph8217;s Shabir Sheikh 11th equalised scores initially, and later pulled another back when Dawood Gadiyali scored two minutes from time.