Punjab, Haryana enter final

For Punjab `A’ the third goal was a combined effort of Jalwinder Singh, Baljeet and Harbinder Singh. Jalwinder got a stray ball near the centre and gave a through pass to Baljeet, who pushed it to Harbinder at the top of the `D’. Harbinder only had to deflect the ball into the goal (3-0). Joga Singh struck twice later to take it to 5-0 in Punjab’s favour.

Punjab `A’ made most of their moves through the left flank in the second session. Manbeer Singh, Inderpal Singh and Joga Singh moved up-front to rattle the rival defence. Inderpal Singh slotted home the sixth goal in the opening minute of the second half and Harbinder made it 7-0 in the 48th minute. Two minutes later he was again on target (8-0).

Baljeet Singh got the ninth goal while Harbinder scored his fifth and his team’s tenth goal in the 52nd minute. Punjab `B’ attackers also made a couple of good moves but fumbled near the stricking circle. They earned nine penalty corners as compared to 16 by the `A’ team. Punjab `B’ shot one back when Onkar Singh converted the team’s ninth penalty corner (1-10).

In the second semifinal Himachal Pardesh `B’ put up a brilliant show and were successful in containing Haryana for the first 20 minutes of play. Thereafter, Himachal’s defence manned by Rajinder, Karnail and Anil wilted under pressure, unable to take the opposition onslaught. Had the HP players sustained their earlier efforts, the outcome of the match could have been different.

On the other hand, the Haryana players took time to settle down. After missing two scoring chances, Damandeep weaved past Rajinder and Anil to beat the rival goalie Vinod, and score the first goal in the 21st minute.

Damandeep failed to consolidate the margin in the 23rd minute, but Sandeep scored on the rebound in the 25th minute (2-0). Down by two goals, the HP forward line invaded the rival territory, but lacked coordination.

Haryana got their third goal when Damandeep beat the advancing goalkeeper to push the ball into the target (3-0). In the second sesion, HP were successful in narrowing the margin in the 50th minute through Nitin (1-3).

However, Damandeep’s powerful hit slid through the keeper’s pads (4-1). Manpreet converted a stroke in the 60th minute.

A minute later Damandeep scored the side’s sixth goal to round off the game.