Viva Chennai eked out a crucial solitary-goal win over Chennai Customs to keep its title-hopes alive in the St. Joseph’s-Chennai Football Association senior division league here on Wednesday.
K. Ajith Kumar’s left-foot tap-in in the 51st minute turned out to be the winner in what was otherwise a largely drab contest.
Viva missed the services of its prolific striker Orok Essien Orok, who was suspended for receiving two yellow cards in an earlier match, and his absence was felt by the team.
Viva was the dominant team in the first half. The only problem was that its forwards were unable to find the back of the net on many occasions. So was Customs, which faltered inside the box several times.
After a goalless first half, urgency was shown by both teams and that resulted in an exciting action for a while. Nearly five minutes into the second session, Sanju’s cross from the left was tapped into the net by Ajith.
The results: Viva Chennai 1 (K. Ajit Kumar 51) bt Chennai Customs 0.
First div.: S.D. Somasundaram 2 (E. Madhan 36 & Suresh Balaji 82) bt Madona Matrix 0.
