Bombay Customs edges out Tamil Nadu XI

Mumbai, Apr 18 (UNI) Bombay Customs goalkeeper Lincoln Taites put up a sterling show as his side edged out Tamil Nadu XI 5-4 via tie-breaker to enter the third round of the 44th Bombay Gold Cup hockey being played here.

In other second round matches, Hockey Bandra blanked out Southern Railway 3-0 with Vikram Pillay, Shashi Topno and P V Raghunath being the scorers, while a brace from Suman Kumar saw Sikh Regimental Centre move past Maharashtra XI 3-1. The third goal for the winners was scored by M Tirkey, while Rohit Dung Dung scored the consolation for Maharashtra XI.

Army XI also booked their place in the third round by beating Northern Railway 2-0 with C Aind and Suresh Kumar sharing the honours.

In the see-saw battle between Bombay Customs and Tamil Nadu XI, the home team gained early advantage when Savio Nayak put them into the lead in the 16th minute. Rahul Singh played the ball to Errol D'Silva to the right wing, who then gave a superb centre to Savio Nayak. With the goalkeeper beaten, Savio had to only tap the ball in to put his team in the lead.

The match came to life in the second half when Tamil Nadu came out all guns blazing and equalised immediately after the breather in the 36th minute after a defensive lapse by Ishoq. The defender lost out on the ball to Mohmmad Nawaz, who passed it on to Jegan Senthil who, in turn, crossed to V Raja, who made no mistake in sounding the board.

Tamil Nadu then launched attack after attack and went into the lead in the 43rd minute when Nawaz converted after a free hit taken from the right side of the field.

The boys from Tamil Nadu then held sway and forced four penalty corners but all went abegging. But soon after they allowed Bombay Customs to bounce back in the 66th minute with Savio Nayak completing his brace. Hemant Gethe gave the ball to Savio who passed it on to Alwyn Alexander who flicked back to Savio on top of the circle to enable him score the equaliser.

In the penalty shoot-out, Hemant Gethe, Rahul Singh and Stanley Fernandes scored for Bombay Customs with Nilesh Negi being denied by Tamil Nadu goalkeeper M G Suresh with a great save, while only Radhakrishnan and A Sivabalan could score for the Tamil Nadu with Muthuselvan, D Muthu Kumaran and Aswin missing to give Bombay Customs a win by 5-4.

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