Army XI stage fine rally to down Western Railway

Defending champions Army XI, Delhi, rallied brilliantly from a two-goal deficit to overcome Western Railway, Mumbai, 6-4 in a high-scoring Pool A league match of the 11th PMC Bank-Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup All India Hockey Tournament here today.
Western took off on the right track and from their first foray into the rival territory forged ahead through Vinod Kumar in the second minute. The local railway outfit doubled the through a snap goal by Amit Rohidas 20 minutes later.
Army men bounced back with a bang and in the very next minute got their first goal through centre-forward Chandan Aind. Having tasted blood, the Army side struck two more goals in quick succession through Anoop Topno (27th minute) and B.K. Milan (28th minute) to snatch the lead.

The charged up Army side started the second half on a stronger note and scored three goals in a span of five minutes to take complete control of the match. Gurpreet Singh (40th), Binay Bhengra (44th) and Aind (45th) were bang on target.
Western Railway managed to reduce the margin of defeat with Jaykaran (55th) and Vinod Kumar (56th) striking the goals.
Earlier, Air India, Delhi, rallied to beat South Central Railway, Secunderabad, 2-1 in a Pool B league match. After a barren first half, the southern outfit broke the deadlock when Mohd Aleem scored a field goal in the 39th minute.

But their joy was short-lived as Air India captain Shivendra Singh netted the equaliser also through a field goal in the very next minute before teammate Sumit Topo struck the winner in the 61st minute.
Air India, who have 9 points from 3 games are now virtually assured of a berth in the semi-finals from this pool. Central Railway (6 points) and Indian Oil (4 points) are in contention of joining them in the next round.