Youthful Pyunik win Armenian Super Cup
Saturday, September 24, 2011
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FC Pyunik retained the Armenian Super Cup with a 3-0 victory over FC Banants, coach Vardan Minasyan saying: "Our young players showed their quality and deserved to win."
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FC Pyunik retained the Armenian Super Cup with a 3-0 win against FC Banants at the Yerevan Republican Stadium.
Having beaten Banants in the 2010 Armenian Cup final and Super Cup to complete a treble, Premier League champions Pyunik triumphed in a game where both teams fielded experimental sides. It was Pyunik's sixth Super Cup in eight years, four of them won against Banants.
Always on top, Pyunik nearly led in the opening seconds when Vardan Bakalyan was sent clear one on one but could not beat Stepan Ghazaryan. However, the goalkeeper was unable to keep out Aram Hovsepyan's 18th-minute lob.
Banants raised the tempo but were then hit on the counterattack, Bakalyan rattling the post and Davit Minasyan pouncing on the rebound to make it 2-0. On 63 minutes, Bakalyan got the goal his performance merited following Artur Yuspashyan's clever pass.
"We played the way we wanted to play," said Pyunik coach Vardan Minasyan. "Any victory is a happy occasion. Our young players showed their quality and deserved to win."
In the 2011 league championship race Pyunik – aiming for an 11th straight title, the best current run in Europe – are in second, five points behind Ulisses FC with as many games to go and the top two meeting on Saturday. Banants are in sixth.
