Local outfit Bombay Customs scored a late equaliser through speedy forward Savio Nayak, his second goal of the match, before edging out Tamil Nadu XI 5-4 via the tie breaker in the 44th Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament in Mumbai on Tuesday.
In a match of free-flowing hockey, with minimum fouls and open play, Nayak put Customs -- third finishers in the local league -- 1-0 ahead in the 16th minute, deflecting home a top of the circle shot from Errol D'Silva.
Crossing over, Tamil Nadu struck twice in the first eight minutes through international D Raja (36th minute) and Mohd Nawaz (43rd), who both put up an impressive display, to go 2-1 up.
Raja put the finishing touches to a fine combined move between Nawaz and captain Jegan Senthil before getting on the score sheet by deflecting home a free-hit taken from the right of the circle.
Customs, who take on UP XI next, fought back well with constant forays in the last 15 minutes of the half and succeeded in restoring parity four minutes from the end.
In the tie-breaker, TN's Muthuselvan, Aswin and Muthukumara failed to score as Radhakrishnan and Sivabalan succeeded. For Customs, Hemant Gethe, Rahul Singh and Stanley Fernandes found the target after the early miss by Nilesh Negi.
In other ties, Sikh Regiment (Rampur) outclassed Maharashtra XI 3-1, Army XI (Bangalore) shut out Northern Ralway (Delhi) 2-0 and local team Hockey Bandra derailed Southern Railway (Chennai) 3-0.
Hockey Bandra, coached by former international Joaquim Carvalho and including three internationals in its ranks in Viren Rasquinha, Vikram Pillay and Deedar Singh -- once again stole the show at the expense of Southern Railway.
Pillay (22nd minute) and Sashi Topno (33rd) scored field goals in the first half to put the local outfit 2-0 up before P V Raghunath completed the rout by converting a penalty-corner in the 57th minute.
The Bandra team will meet another leading local team, Bharat Petroleum, in the third round.
Army XI vanquished Northern Railway 2-0 with field goals in the second half from captain Cyprind Aind (46th) and Suresh Kumar (63rd).
The army team will meet Air India in the next round.
Maharashtra XI were totally outclassed by Sikh Regiment, for whom speedy forward Suman Kumar notched a brace of goals, the second one a fine solo effort with a reverse hit, in the 29th and 41st minutes.
M Tirkey also scored with a reverse stick shot in the 51st to put the armymen 3-0 in front before Rohit Dung Dung got a consolation goal for the Pune team nine minutes from the end with an angular shot from the right.
SRC have drawn Karnataka XI (Bangalore) as their third round rivals.
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