SAIL enter quarter-finals

The Haryana pride was dented with an early blow in the ninth minute. A defensive lapse that had left the goal unguarded gave Punjab8217;s Baldeep Singh the opportunity to bang the ball home off a pass from Inder Mohan Singh. Last year8217;s runners-up Haryana, had not even settled down by then and the goal came as a shock.

Thereafter, both teams searched out openings to score while maintaining a tight defense. Rajesh Kumar, Rajiv Panchal and Jitender Singh came up with few good moves but they lacked finishing. Haryana failed badly at penalty corners too 8212; wasting all the seven they earned.

Late in the 64th minute, Punjab captain Daljeet Singh pounced upon a pass from Baljeet in the 64th minute to strike.

Haryana forwards, finally got one back in the 68th minute after having missed a penalty-corner a few seconds ago. Jaswed Singh8217;s goal raised Haryana8217;s hopes of drawing the tie, but time was not on their side.In contrast, SAIL had an easy outing today.

Results

Delhi bt HP 7-1

Chandigarh bt MB 5-2

Assam bt Tripura 2-0

Bhopal bt Patiala 3-0

Punjab bt Haryana 2-1

SAIL bt Vidarbha 11-0

Kerala bt Nagaland 5-1

Hyderabad bt Manipur 4-1

League Table

Group C

Team W L D GF GA Pts

Bhopal 3 0 0 38 0 9

Patiala 2 1 0 30 3 6

Kerala 1 2 0 5 27 3

Nagaland 0 3 0 1 44 0

Group D

Teams W L D GF GA Pts

SAIL 2 0 1 16 4 7

Punjab 2 1 0 20 3 6

Haryana 1 1 1 13 6 4

Vidarbha 0 3 0 1 36 0