MOSCOW, March 26 (R-Sport) - Second-tier Luch Energia Vladivostok dumped Premier League side FC Tomsk out of the Russian Cup on Wednesday, winning 2-1 on penalties to reach the semifinals despite playing most of the game with 10 men.
On-loan forward Igor Portnyagin put Tomsk ahead on the half-hour mark, ghosting between two static Luch defenders to prod home Alexei Aravin's low cross.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men in first-half stoppage time, when midfielder Anatoly Romanovich was shown a second yellow card for an off-the-ball challenge on Tomsk's Mikhail Komkov.
Nevertheless they found a 62nd-minute equalizer through Denis Klopkov, who shot into the corner from the edge of the box.
Luch stood resolute in the face of severe late pressure on their goal and forced extra time, ultimately penalties.
The hero for the visitors was Vladimir Ponomaryov, whose winning penalty wriggled under Tomsk goalkeeper Ilie Cebanu after the hosts had catastrohpically missed their first four efforts.
The game was played in Novosibirsk because Tomsk's pitch was unplayable.
Luch go one better than their previous best of a quarterfinal appearance in 2010 and will face the winner of the quarterfinal between FC Rostov and second-tier Rotor Volgograd, to be played later Wednesday.
The other two quarterfinals are also Wednesday, with holders CSKA Moscow hosting Terek Grozny and Tosno, from the third division, hosting FC Krasnodar.
