Penalty joy for Lausanne and Servette

Lausanne's Claudio Gentile was the club's penalty hero on Wednesday Keystone

Lausanne and Servette Geneva both reached the semi-finals of the Swiss Cup on Wednesday after winning penalty shootouts against Basel and Young Boys Bern respectively.

The match between Lausanne and Basel was the only game to involve two top division sides, not that the quality of football on offer was anywhere near top-class. After 83 goal-less minutes, Basel appeared to have been given an important advantage, with the sending off of Lausanne defender Remo Meyer.

But Basel were unable to profit from their one-man advantage and with overtime failing to produce any goals, the encounter moved to the penalty spot. Even after five penalty kicks each, the two teams were inseparable. Only when the shootout moved into sudden death did Lausanne secure their semi-final berth, winning 7-6.

Losing finalists in last year’s Swiss Cup, Lausanne are turning into quite the cup specialists. Nine-times winners of the cup, the team from canton Vaud are now through to the 30th semi-final in their history.

Second division Young Boys put up a brave fight against Servette, Sekulovic scoring just before the break to cancel out an earlier goal from Servette’s Petrov. The score remained level at 1-1 throughout extra time.

Servette’s penalty shootout hero was goalkeeper Eric Pédat who saved three Bern penalties to ensure the Genevan side narrowly avoided embarrassment with a 3-2 victory over their lower league opponents.

Swiss league leaders St Gallen, meanwhile, had no such difficulties, winning their match against second division Winterthur 3-1. The Swiss champions moved into a 2-0 lead with goals from two Winterthur-born players, Marc Zellweger and Giorgio Contini.

Romanian striker Ionel Gane grabbed a third for St Gallen 18 minutes before the end. Winterthur, who knocked out top division Lugano in the previous round, grabbed a consolation goal through Brugnoli three minutes later.

In the semi-final draw which followed Wednesday’s matches, Servette were pitted against St Gallen, while Lausanne will play the winners of Thursday’s match between Thun and Yverdon.

swissinfo with agencies