Levski and Litex carve out leads

PFC Levski Sofia and PFC Litex Lovech moved a step closer to the Bulgarian Cup final after victories in today's semi-final first-leg ties.

Fortunate winner
Levski edged past PFC CSKA Sofia 1-0 thanks to a somewhat fortunate injury-time winner. Todor Kolev lobbed the ball towards CSKA goalkeeper Stoyan Kolev who misjudged his leap and saw the ball bounce over him and into the path of Manuel Mendoza. The Ecuadorian international duly headed into an empty net despite desperate defending by CSKA's F.Y.R. Macedonia international Artim Sakiri.

'We didn't have any luck'
"We didn't have any luck," said CSKA coach Stoycho Mladenov after the match. "Our opponents were blessed by fortune. We created ten times as many chances as Levski, but were not lucky enough to convert them." Levski coach Georgi Todorov said: "I'm only happy with the win, but not with the play. I expected much more from our players."

Comfortable win
Meanwhile, Litex secured a comfortable 2-0 home advantage against PFC Marek Dupnitza ahead of the second leg. Coach Ferario Spasov was forced by injuries to play central defender Zhivko Zhelev as a striker and the move paid off with Zhelev opening the scoring after 29 minutes and adding a second after the interval.

'We had our chances'
"Ferario [Spasov] surprised me by playing Zhivko Zhelev as a striker and we had to adapt to Litex's tactics in the process of the match," said Marek coach Ivan Kyuchukov. "We had our chances, but we failed to convert them." The second-leg matches will take place on 3 May with the final on 21 May at the Vasil Levski national stadium in Sofia.