Crown go down

Chhun Sothearath, minus his shirt, moments after scoring the winning penalty for BBU against Phnom Penh Crown

Would you Adam and Eve it? Their first big test of the new season and Phnom Penh Crown were found wanting when they came a cropper this afternoon at the hands of a cock-a-hoop Build Bright United in the Hun Sen Cup quarter-final. It went down to penalty-kicks after the two teams drew 2-2 after extra time but it was the students who kept their nerve as the pressure mounted and they edged it 5-4 to go through to the semis. Not enough hours in the day to write full match reports from yesterday's games, though I will post them later tonight; in the meantime, Preah Khan Reach put Prek Pra to the sword with a 5-1 win, with that man Khuon Laboravy netting a hat-trick to take his Hun Sen Cup tally to 19 goals. Tum Saray and Phanny Y Ratha also scored for PKR after Mat Hasan had given Prek Pra an early lead. Pretty one-sided though Prek Pra were made to pay dearly for pushing up too far and leaving themselves exposed at the back. In the 2nd match, Crown dominated possession but couldn't create enough chances, or take the ones they did create, to stamp their authority over BBU. The students defended well, rebuffed Crown's advances, held on for dear life when they went down to 10-men in regular time injury-time with the dismissal of keeper Hem Simay and won the lottery that is penalty kicks. Crown will be kicking themselves that they didn't force home their advantage and the first major shock of the cup competition is that Crown won't make the final for the 4th successive year. Crown twice went ahead through Phoung Narong and Sok Pheng but were reined in by goals from Nuth Sinoun (penalty) and Prum Puthsethy. When it came down to the penalties, Sun Sopanha and Chan Chaya had their spot-kicks saved by former Crown stopper Sos Proshim and BBU were the ones jumping around for joy when Chhun Sothearath whacked home his winning penalty and the lights at the Olympic Stadium were turned off. A lot more from both games to follow.