IOC, PSB in drawn match

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A strong Indian Oil Corporation and Punjab & Sind Bank played out a 2-2 draw in a Pool 'B' fixture Thursday to book semi-final spots in the 92nd All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament here.

Meanwhile, Railways outplayed Central Secretariat (Delhi) 3-1 to make sure of a last four berth from Pool 'A', joining Army, which had qualified Wednesday.

Indian Railways will meet Punjab & Sind Bank while IOC will clash with Indian Army in the semi-finals tomorrow.

In the Railways-Central Secretariat match, Harsahib Singh put the former ahead with a goal in the 17th minute.

Down 0-1 at half-time, the Delhi team levelled early in the second half when Mohit Kumar scored from a penalty corner.

Ajmer Singh with a strike in the 40th minute and Karan Pal Singh's goal in the 44th minute put the match beyond Central Secretariat's reach.

Railways held on to the lead to dash Central Secretariat's hopes.

In the IOC-PSB encounter, the latter took the lead when Ashish Kumar Sharma scored in the 12th minute.

The formidable IOC team, comprising a number of players with international experience, kept pressing for the equaliser.

Towards the close of the first half, Affan Yusuf sounded the board from a penalty corner.

In the second half, though the two sides kept attacking it took a while for a goal to come and in the 54th, IOC broke through with Bharath Chikkara sending one past the rival custodian.

PSB fought back with vigour and their efforts bore fruit when Ganganpreet Singh slammed one into the IOC goal from a penalty corner.

Both IOC and PSB finished equal on eight points from four matches (two wins and two draws) but the former took the top spot in Pool 'B' on better goal difference.

Railways topped Pool 'A' on goal difference after it finished equal on nine points with the Army team.

The final will be played on September 16.