New Delhi, October 29: Goalkeeper Kameshwar Singh broke the hearts of thousands of Manipur fans today with two superb saves in the tie-breaker as Punjab pipped the defending champions 4-3 (1-1 after extra time) to move into the final of the 59th Indian Oil National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy here.

Six time champions Punjab will challenge last year's finalists and four time winners Kerala on Sunday in a repeat of the 1987-88 final at Kollam which Punjab won on penalties.

In an edge of the seat thriller, which ended goalless after the regulation time, Punjab took the lead in the 11th minute of extra time through Parveen Kumar and the defending champions equalized when Indian footballer of the year Tomba Singh curved in a free kick in the 23rd minute.

Manipur coach Ratankumar Singh replaced Noren Singh in goal with K Bijen Singh at the beginning of extra time's second half and the move almost worked as the stout 'keeper send the fans into raptures stopping the first kick in tie-breaker by Punjab striker Harvinder Singh after substitute Tiken Singh put his side 1-0 up.

Then it was the turn of Kameshwar, who incidentally hails from Imphal, to stun the near capacity crowd, as he effected two diving saves - first to the left and then the other side - to deny James Singh and Raju Singh.

Manipur converted their fourth and fifth kicks through Bijen Singh and Dharamjit Singh but then the damage had already been done with Punjab keeping their nose in front and won the ticket to the final with Daljit Singh, skipper Gurjit Singh Atwal and Harish Sharma making no mistake from the spot.

With Punjab leading 3-2, after both teams took four shots each, there was intense pressure on Dharamjit but he scored to keep Manipur alive.

Harish then rose up to the expectation with powerful shot that, stopped the heartbeats for a second when it struck the inside of the right post before rocketing to the left corner to trigger celebrations among the handful of Punjab fans.

The entire Punjab team ran to celebrate the win and congratulate Harish as the inconsolable Manipur fans quietly trooped out.

Their only consolation was that the man of the match award was won by Tomba Singh.

It was exciting stuff throughout the 120 minutes of play with both Manipur and Punjab dishing out exciting soccer.

The beginning of the extra time saw Punjab forwards Harvinder and Gurjit troubling the rivals and Manipur responding through quick counter attacks.

After the change of ends, Manipur went all the more on the offensive and three minutes into the session they earned two free kicks.

The champions were determined not to disappoint their passionate fans as they stormed forward with drums and crackers providing the backdrop.

The Manipur fans went into delirium when substitute Tiken Singh found the net off a pass by substitute Rajesh Meitei.

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