JP Young Stars FC and Tonic FC on Wednesday booked their places in the semi-finals of the https://1xcup.ng/ after recording contrasting wins in their respective quarter-final matches at the Inspire Sports Arena, Cappa, Oshodi, Lagos.

While Tonic won in regulation time, Young Stars could not as they had to endure the pressure of penalty shootout before emerging victorious and making it into the last four of the biggest grassroots football competition in Lagos State.

With both teams through to the semi-finals of the https://1xcup.ng/, attention now shifts to the remaining four fixtures as the competition moves closer to its decisive stages.

JP Young Stars FC 3-3 Inspire SA (Young Stars win 5-4 on penalties)

Young Stars did it the hard way by coming back from behind to edge 10-man Inspire SA 5-4 on penalties after the two teams had played out a highly entertaining 3-3 draw in regulation time.

Inspire took the lead through Sammy Annan in the 26th minute and went 2-0 ahead six minutes later when Paul Eniola assisted Esho Idris to score in the 32nd minute.

Young Stars reduced the deficit in the 43rd minute courtesy of Yayah Wasiu whose goal was created by Yusuf Taiwo Akanbi who had earlier received a yellow card in the 41st minute.

Within the space of nine minutes, Bamidele Favour went from hero to villain when he scored Inspire’s third goal in the 60th minute with an assist from Oshinfowokan Ezekiel and got sent off on 61 minutes following his second caution, having previously received a yellow card in the 52nd minute.

With Inspire going one man down, Young Stars smelt blood and made a very good use of their numerical advantage by scoring two late goals to level the scores at 3-3.

Wasiu got his brace after converting from the penalty spot in the 80th minute to help Young Stars reduce the deficit to 3-2.

Young Stars got their equaliser only two minutes later when Ogungbile Elijah who had earlier replaced Akanbi in the 49th minute scored from Wasiu’s assist.

Both sides produced an exciting contest, but Young Stars held their nerve in the penalty shootout, losing only one of their spot kicks against Inspire’s two misses to secure qualification for the last four.

Tonic FC 2-1 Joy Cometh FC

In Wednesday’s second quarter-final fixture, Tonic FC secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Joy Cometh FC to qualify for the semi-finals.

Tonic went 2-0 ahead through Hassan Olamilekan whose 26th minute opening goal was set up by Olanipekun Segun after which Olamilekan went from scorer to provider by creating Ojo Busayo’s goal in the 51st minute.

Joy Cometh scoed in the 47th minute to reduce the deficit to 2-1, with the goal coming from Adeleke Samuel courtesy of an assist from Omoregie Emmanuel.

Despite Joy Cometh threatening to equalise on numerous occasions, Tonic stood firm and defended resolutely to secure a narrow 2-1 win which ended their opponent’s campaign and kept their own hopes of lifting the https://1xcup.ng/ trophy alive.