Strong contenders Indian Oil moved into the final of the 108th Beighton Cup hockey tournament, beating former champions Punjab and Sind Bank 6-5 via the tie-breaker at the Mohun Bagan ground on Tuesday.

They will meet Border Security Force, Jallandhar, in Wednesday's final.

BSF edged past a fighting Army XI 5-3, also via the tie-breaker, in the first semi-final.

The tie-breaker was necessitated in both semi-finals as regular and extra-time ended in 1-1 deadlocks.

BSF drew first blood in the fifth minute when Christopher Ekka beat Army XI goalkeeper Sunny from a penalty-corner hit.

Stung by the reverse, the armymen launched sporadic attacks and forced at least six penalty-corners within a few mintues but none of them could be converted.

But they regrouped in the second session and drew level in the 63rd minute though a field goal. Following a cross from Kamal Horo on the right flank, Avtar Singh deflected the ball into the BSF cage.

In the tie-breaker, Harbhajan Singh, Devinder Kumar, Christopher Ekka and Sushil Kujur scored for BSF while only Avtar Singh and Harpreet Singh could net for Army XI.

BSF thus entered the final for the sixth time. But it was mainly because of some superb goalkeeping by K M Subbiah, who effected two fine saves in the tie-breaker.

While BSF's first four shots in the tie-breaker were netted, the armymen failed to convert their second and fourth shots. The fifth was not needed as scoreline by then had decided the match (5-3).

On their way to final, BSF had defeated Karnataka XI in the pre-quarter-finals 4-3; in the quarter final league matches they defeated Air India 1-0, lost to Punjab and Sind Bank 1-2 and ousted CRPF, Delhi, 2-1.

With both sides having a number of internationals in their ranks, the match between Punjab and Sind Bank and Indian Oil turned out to be a well-contested affair. Indian Oil, spearheaded by World Cuppers Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh, forged ahead in the 28th minute following a penalty-corner. Prabhjot passed the ball to Kamlesh Kumar, who found the target with a quick shot.

Stung by the reverse, the bankmen went all out for the equaliser and restored parity in the latter part of the second-half. Following a penalty-corner, Swaranjit Singh sounded the boards from a pass by Ajit Pal Singh (1-1).

In extra-time, the bankmen dominated the proceedings but failed to break the tight IOC defence, where Bikramjit Singh played a steller role. The match went into the tie-breaker as extra-time also failed to force any decision.

In the tie-breaker, all but Swaranjit Singh found target for the bankmen.

Vikramjit, Prabhjot Singh, Lakhwinder Singh, Deepak Thakur and Khusmeet Singh scored in the tie-breaker for Indian Oil, while Ajit Pal Singh, Rajbir Singh, Jatinder Singh and Harpreet Singh found the mark for the bankmen.

UNI