Rizo Win Challenge Cup

<p>CETINKAYA were making their third&nbsp;appearance in four years a tremendous feat.&nbsp;They are well organised both on and off&nbsp;the field. RIZOKARPASO making theirdebut have been one of the most improved&nbsp;teams in the league and of course have a&nbsp;huge support. In fact as mentioned earlier&nbsp;there were a lot of families there.

<p>The game started with both teams showing

<p>a lot of respect for each other making

<p>it a tight affair.

<p>These two teams came into the final with

<p>the best form recoding some excellent recent

<p>results to get into the top half of the

<p>table.

<p>Both teams had good vocal support from

<p>the enthusiastic crowd who although focusing

<p>on the game had one ear on mobiles

<p>to monitor their Premier League team&Otilde;s last

<p>day progress . They needn&Otilde;t worry as master

<p>of ceremonies Kopa Secretary Michael

<p>Yiakoumi kept them updated at every possible

<p>moment!!

<p>There were no clear cut opportunities

<p>created in the first half although Rizo had

<p>a lucky escape when Panayi misjudged a&nbsp;long range effort from Marcus Samuels but

<p>recovered to clear via the crossbar.

<p>The second half saw Cetinkaya go close

<p>with Salih but the best chance came to Leon

<p>Semper who slid in to meet a low cross only

<p>to put it just past Remzi&Otilde;s post. Boxer

<p>and Rispoli were gradually controlling the

<p>midfield for Rizokarpaso but with just one

<p>up front they lacked penetration.

<p>Cetinkaya begun to push players forward

<p>and looked dangerous creating several opportunities

<p>but no breakthrough so on to

<p>extra time. Considering these two teams

<p>scored a lot of goals on their way to the final

<p>it was amazing we had not seen a goal.

<p>In fact Cinar Cetinkaya were trying to

<p>get their first goal in their three final appearances.

<p>The introduction of Tony Ponou gave

<p>Rizo a lift as he pushed and propped his

<p>colleagues forward. Tony knows what is

<p>like to be a winner in this competition having

<p>won it four times with Omonia and

<p>Salamina. Could he make it a high five with

<p>Rizo? He was about to find out in the dreaded

<p>but exciting penalty shootout.

<p>Of course teams will practice penalties

<p>in training but it is different when is for real.

<p>You can be a villain and of course you

<p>can be a hero. First it looked like Remzi

<p>Sekmen was going to be the hero having

<p>saved the first penalty but it was Andy Panayi

<p>who was to emerge as the ultimate hero.

<p>Rizo have pulled level after Cetinkaya missed

<p>a penalty it was down to their fifth spot kick.

<p>They had to score to take the shootout into

<p>sudden death. Panayi made sure there

<p>was no more nail biting to be done by pulling

<p>a spectacular save to give Rizokarpaso the

<p>Challenge Cup trophy at their first attempt.

<p>It started the celebrations for Rizokarpaso

<p>supporters who cheered their team on as

<p>they collected the trophy from Philon Parpottas

<p>of sponsor Buzz Sweets.

<p>It must be mentioned that despite the

<p>lack of goals the game was played in great

<p>sportsmanship well controlled by the officials

<p>and of course a good atmosphere all

<p>around.