BSF stun Punjab Cops

CALCUTTA, APRIL 13: Border Security Force, Jalandhar stunned defending champions Punjab Police by a solitary first half goal to set up a tit...

CALCUTTA, APRIL 13: Border Security Force, Jalandhar stunned defending champions Punjab Police by a solitary first half goal to set up a title clash with Army XI in the 103rd Beighton Cup hockey tournament at Mohun Bagan ground here today.

BSF, runners-up to Punjab Police last time, extracted sweet revenge, playing superior hockey in the first half. The goal came in the 21st minute when Cyril Ekka followed a penalty corner, the second of the five that BSF received, into the net.

Punjab Police too got five penalty corners, but they could not convert any of them. The closest they came to scoring was with their fourth penalty corner when Jagdev Singh hit the upright. That was in the 55th minute. A few minutes later, Baljit Singh Bhullar’s cracking hit was well saved by the BSF goalkeeper.

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Punjab Police, built up a number of counter-attacks in the second half but fumbled repeatedly inside the striking circle. BSF, to their credit, went on the defence immediately after scoring the goal.

Army XI, whodefeated Railways Coach Factory Kapurthala 3-2 in the other semi-final, will bank on their defence to help them win the Beighton Cup. They had last won the tournament in 1994, the third of a hat-trick of wins.

The Army team went 2-0 up before RCF equalised. International K K Poonacha opened the scoring for Army by converting a penalty corner in the 13th minute. Kamal Hodo pushed in a cross from Devang Ravi to make it 2-0 in the 41th minute. RCF then got their act together with Jagmohan Singh scoring off a penalty corner six minutes later to make it 2-1.

Anil Ekka made it 2-2 in the 66th minute when his hit from inches inside the striking circle entered after being deflected by Navin Lakra of Army XI.