Six times FA Cup winners came from a goal down to defeat Negombo Youth 3-1 while Blue Star and league champions, Solid SC had tough wins on their way to a quarter final births.
Renown v Negombo Youth
Renown came from a goal down early on in the match to win 3-1 against fellow Champions League team Negombo Youth at the Moragasmulla Grounds.
The hotly contested match was not all in favour of the six time champions as the Negombo Youth took the lead as early as in the 4th minute. Negombo Youth with their two nippy African players got off to a fast start which caught the Renown SC defense off guard and veteran Kasun Jayasuriya celebrated the inclusion into the national side as he took maximum use to score the opener from inside the box.
Negombo Youth kept on the pressure and nearly scored the second but the ever-alert Hakeem Kamil cleared the ball off the line. Then Kasun Jayasuriya found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Sathish Kumar but his lobbed effort was headed out for a corner by the defense.
Against the run of play Renown equalized as maestro Fazul Rahuman expertly picked out the run of Mohamed Rifnaz who chipped it over the on rushing goalkeeper. Thereafter Renown got into their groove, keeping possession and passing around and in one such instance a cross into the box was handled by a Negombo Youth defender and the referee had no hesitation in giving a penalty. Fazal Mohamed drilled it to the back of the net making it 2-1 and relieving some pressure.
In the second half, Negombo Youth had a few chances themselves with free-kicks and corners but was unable to convert them. Midway through the second half Fazal Ahamed was sent off for a second bookable offense after a needless challenge on Jayasuriya.
With a man advantage Negombo Youth piled on the attacks pushing men forward but the experienced Renown defense held firm. Deep into injury time a missed back pass led to a collision between Chrishan Fernando the goalkeeper and defender which gifted Fazal an easy shot to score his second goal to make it 3-1 for Renown SC.
Last minute goal saves Blue Star
Blue Star the last year’s runner up had a tough game at home where the Kurunegala Pelicans displayed a well-combined game much to the surprise of thousands of Kalutara fans. Pelicans opened scoring with Ekanayake finding the net in the 27th minute but Blue Star equalized through the Nigirian Y. Richard to make it 1-1 at lemons. In the last minute young Rifkan found the net for Blue Star to win the game and advance to pre-quarters to meet Police.
Solid escapes on penalties
The Champions League Champs Solid from Anuradhapura had a shock when they could not find the net against young and new comers to Cargills FA Cup, Mawanella United to draw 0-0 at the end of the 90 minutes of play in Anuradhapura. Solid managed to win 4-2 on penalties.
Singing Fish in high voice
The up and coming New Star lost their hopes to make it back to back pre-quarter final visits when they lost to unheralded Singing Fish -Jaffna on penalties after drawing 2-2 at the end of the 90 minutes. Singing Fish played an organized and hard game of football and on penalties they beat New Star by 4-2 to advance for the pre-quarter finals against Matara City Football Club.
