Chennai Customs were a quarter of an hour away from seeing their title hopes extinguished in the St. Joseph’s-CFA senior division league here on Tuesday.

But a contentious penalty against Tamil Nadu Police in a must-win match saved their skin and season. Right-winger Sathish (Jr) thumped home the spot kick in the 76th minute to hand Customs a 1-0 win.

If defending champions AGORC beat Chennai FC on Thursday, they will be involved in a playoff with Customs to decide the championship. As things stands now, it is almost certain that the title race will go down to the wire.

Referee Jayapal Fernando adjudged that Police left-back P. Vimalraj had brought down a charging R. Nirmal Kumar when the Customs right-back was a few awards away from the goal.

Police, led by their coach M. Elango who took the extraordinary step of entering the field of play, protested the decision vehemently. Inevitably, the referee’s call stood.

The onus of persevering his team’s title chances fell on Sathish (Jr) The winger shouldered the weight of expectations like Hercules as he fired the ball in to the left of Police goalkeeper G. Dhanasekaran.

He was a brave man indeed. With so much riding on the kick from 12 yards, Sathish (Jr) showed monkish composure to send Customs fans into raptures.

Overwhelmed by joy and relief, the goal-scorer celebrated as if he had conquered the world. He went straight to the Police bench and taunted an already battered Elango in a despicable show of exhibitionism and aggression.

Police, clearly deflated, failed to fashion a goal-scoring chance until the end. Their survival is not in their hands now.

Police will be demoted to the first division in the event of an improbable win for Chennai over AGORC and a decisive result in the match between relegation threatened FCI and Central Excise on Friday.

An AGORC win and a result in the FCI-Excise match will secure safety for Police. The final week of the senior division league has never been spicier in recent years.

Ultimately, Customs have accomplished their mission with their suspended star striker, M. Ramesh. But they could do so only after an incredible drama, which would have shot up the blood pressure of their supporters. Customs will be a transformed team with the return of Ramesh for the imminent title playoff.

Customs had showed invested so much emotional energy into the Police match that it would be difficult to envisage the consequences of anything less than three points.

Coach S. Grand Duraipandian was a nervous wreck near the touchline and his players were no better out in the middle. Customs almost paid the price for their emotional approach and nervousness.

Police, who have endured a horrendous season, defended heroically. The thought of relegation brought out their best. No team in the league have made Customs wait for a goal until the 76th minute this season.

The best chances for Customs fell to midfielder K. Sudhakar and forward U. Jayakumar. But the duo’s finishing left a lot to be desired. Sudhakar went on a mesmerizing solo run after his team had taken the lead but he failed to find the target from close range.

Grand’s decision to replace right-winger D. Bharathiraja with veteran D. Kumar in the second half proved to be an astute move. Kumar and Nirmal combined well to torment Police. Not surprisingly, a swift counter attack on the right culminated in the penalty.

Customs goalkeeper Arun Pradeep did well to collect Police forward G. Sathish Kumar’s goal-bound effort after a deep free-kick had been whipped from the left. It was the closest Police came to scoring in an otherwise outstanding defensive performance.

Result Senior division: Customs 1 (Sathish (Jr) 76) bt TN Police 0. MoM: R. Nirmal Kumar (Customs).
First division: SBI 3 (Hari Narayanan, Joel Aaron, Joseph Fernando) bt RBI 2 (Arun, Mathivanan).
Action today Senior division: RPF vs Southern Railway (5 pm).

Police coach can’t digest penalty call

Tamil Nadu Police coach M. Elango was furious at the penalty awarded against his team. His gave vent to his anger after the match. “It wasn’t a penalty. Even the spectators can vouch for that.

There is no doubt that the referee was wrong. I had a clear view of the incident. Nirmal went down on his own. Vimal had nothing to do with his fall,” he said. Elango stunned everyone by sprinting into the field to argue with the referee after the penalty.

Referee Jayapal Fernando, however, stood his ground. “I’m certain it was a penalty. Vimal pulled Nirmal’s jersey before tripping him. There were a number of Customs players inside the box when the incident occurred. Besides, Nirmal was so close to the goal that he would have taken a shot if he hadn’t been tripped,” he added.

The Police players confronted Jayapal after the match. Elango said he had spoken to Vimal about the penalty incident. “My player told me that he didn’t pull Nirmal down. If Jayapal had seen the foul, why did he not issue a card to Vimal immediately?

The referee had to consult his assistant before he flashed a yellow to Vimal. That shows that he hadn’t seen the incident. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been an inordinate delay in issuing the card,” he added.

Jayapal indeed took his time to brandish a yellow card to Vimal, who had already been cautioned in the 62nd minute. Only when Vimal trooped off the field many realised that he was adjudged to have brought down Nirmal.

The Police coach said he was overcome with anger. “I respect referees and never fight with them. But I couldn’t control myself today after the penalty. That’s why I entered the field. The match was crucial for us to avoid relegation. Now I have to keep my fingers crossed,” he added.