Punjab beat Haryana, enter final of senior hockey national

Gurjinder continued his goal-scoring spree and converted two penalty cornes in 15th and 21st minutes, before Satbir Singh (51st) and skipper Sarvanjit Singh (55th) completed the tally for Punjab.

For Haryana, Naveen Antil scored the consolation goal in the 58th minute.

Punjab was by far the better outfit on display and showed a lot of character and composure. Haryana, on the other hand, committed far too many errors that forced them to play defensive hockey.

Punjab controlled the pace of the game from the start and within 21 minutes took a 2-0 lead, courtesy two penalty corner conversions from Gurjinder which Haryana goalkeeper Nanak Singh had no answers.

Haryana depended far too much on ace midfielder Sardar Singh to construct moves. Playing from very deep positions, Sardar did his best, but he appeared more effective in the second half when he decided to join the attacks and even forced a penalty corner, Haryana's first of two in the 40th minute, but could not convert a single one.

After the change of ends, Punjab stepped up the pace and struck two more times through Satbir, who flicked home a pass from Akashdeep Singh and then set up Sarvanjit for the fourth goal 15 minutes from the hooter.

Haryana enjoyed their best moments in the last quarter when they forced a few good moves and from one of them Antil scored their solitary goal.

"We scored goals at regular intervals and that helped us to keep Haryana under pressure. Gurjinder also made a big difference. He is a fine prospect," Punjab coach Baljit Singh Saini said.