Thursday, April 27 2006 14:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Sabu Varkey's thundering shot in the closing minutes brought Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) a second victory in the semifinal league and almost secured itself of a place in the title match of the 44th Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament.

BPCL defeated Western Railway 2-1 to boost its tally to six points from two matches. In another semifinal league match, Namdhari XI suffered its second straight defeat and ruled itself out of contention for a place in the final. The Namdharis lost 4-0 to the Bangalore-based Army XI.

At the Mahindra Stadium here on Tuesday (Apr 25, 2006), Len Aiyappa put BPCL ahead seven minutes after the break with a rare dragflick conversion.

The defending champion, Western Railway, saw a stroke of luck coming its way when Jayesh Jadhav thrust his stick to divert a long pass from Manish Sahai.

The match appeared to be heading towards a draw, when Varkey hit a power-packed carpet drive to beat the rival goalkeeper Suraj Kanta.