Brothers put Pyunik on course for final

FC Pyunik beat FC MIKA 4-1 in the Armenian Cup semi-final first leg yesterday to give themselves an excellent chance of exacting revenge for last year's defeat at the same stage.

High hopes
Pyunik, the Armenian Premier League champions, lost 4-2 on aggregate to their rivals MIKA in last season's semi-final but will have high hopes of progressing a stage further this year after an excellent performance. Today saw the other semi-final first leg, with FC Zvarnots AAL only managing a 0-0 draw against FC Spartak Yerevan.

Brilliant brothers
The Karamyan brothers were the heroes for Pyunik yesterday, scoring three goals and setting up the other. Pyunik enjoyed a bright start to the game with Artavazd Karamyan scoring from an acute angle after eight minutes. The other brother, Armen Karamyan, then latched on to Miguel Sistera's slide-rule pass to double the lead. Then, the brothers combined to score the third goal on 60 minutes, as Artavazd tapped in Armen's cross from the right.

Bykov pays the penalty
Armen Shageldyan pulled MIKA one goal closer in the 79th minute, but, moments later, Vasiliy Bykov handballed Arman Karamyan's shot in the penalty area, and was dismissed. Pyunik's captain Vardan Minasyan comfortably converted the spot-kick to seal the victory.