A last-minute penalty strike helped Controllerate of Inspection Electronics (CIL) steal a point from Postal with a 1-1 draw in the Super Division football league at the Bangalore Football stadium here on Friday.
Postal were on the brink of victory through a early second-half goal by Einstein, when referee Andrew provided the anti-climax by awarding CIL a penalty as Postal custodian Selvaraj tripped rival player Vasigaran inside the box.
Ravindran brought cheers to the CIL camp with an accurate 93rd minute spot-kick to the right corner of the net to take their tally to seven points from 11 matches, while Postal have 12 points from 10 outings.
In an insipid affair lacking pace, both teams were confined to midfield tussles and frequently indulged in wayward long-rangers.
A long-ranger from D Velu, which rattled the bar, was all that CIL could manage in the first half. At the other end, Einstein could not shore up enough support from his fellow forwards.
Solo effort
After drawing a blank in the opening session, Postal surged into lead when Einstein outran two defenders on the left flank with a solo effort and sorted out a difficult angle between the left post and goalkeeper Venkatesh in the 55th minute.
After the goal, Postal upped the ante and three minutes later, the veteran forward again came up with a similar move but faulted with a weak shot that went straight into Venkatesh’s hands. A cross to unmarked Santosh Kumar on the right flank could have yielded the desired result.
Within a short while, Venkatesh was again called into action as the goalkeeper tipped away a 35-yard shot by Ramesh with great difficulty.
Desperate for the equaliser, CIL effected all three substitutions but the story remained more or less the same for them.
In the 89th minute, CIL came close to conceding the second goal when Santosh’s shot hit the left post and the rebound shot by Xavier too found the woodwork. However, the injury-time strike saved the day for a struggling CIL.
Other result: ‘A’ Division: Nationals: 0 drew with BUFC:0.
Saturday’s matches: ‘A’ Division: Universal vs SWRI, 1.45 pm; Super Division: HASC vs ASC, 3.45 pm.