St Andrew's, who appeared to have lost heart after two quick goals put Khalsa 2-0 ahead in the 22nd minute, said the controversial fourth goal, after a free-kick was erroneously awarded to Khalsa, caused their defeat.

St Andrew's coach Timothy Pereira, a former international, said, ``We were 0-3 down at half-time but we could have fought back and won 5-3. The fourth goal made all the difference.''

Other teams to enter the semifinal were Mithibai, holders Siddharth and Rizvi. Mithibai drubbed Maharashtra 8-1, one more than Rizvi had scored against NM.

The Khalsa-Andrew's tie came to life in the 21st minute when Marlon Pinto made an unchallenged solo run and slotted the ball in. One minute later, Sandeep Kamble made it 2-0 after he received a superb pass from Agnelo Fernandes. Sandeep then set up the third with a dazzling run from the right pastthree defenders. He was brought down at the edge of the box, and Agnelo Fernandes scored off the indirect free kick.

The fourth goal must go down in the annals of referring errors. St Andrew's keeper Robert D'Silva had the ball well in his grasp when Marlon Pinto, chasing after it, needlessly charged the keeper. Robert stuck his foot out in defence, and Marlon followed with some amateur writhing on the ground.

Horror of horrors, referee Camillo showed the keeper the yellow card and awarded a free kick. Agnelo pounced on the rebound and struck home.

After St Andrew's pulled one back in the 82nd minute off Jackson D'Silva, Khalsa almost did not make the fifth. Agnelo delayed the cross to Darshit Shetty, but an onrushing St Andrew's keeper fumbled, allowing Darshit, who had come in just a couple of minutes earlier, to score seconds before the final whistle.

Rizvi and Mithibai advanced to the semis in style, scoring 7-1 and 8-1 victories respectively over their opponents.

Results(quarters)

Siddharth 2 (Sydney Mascarenhas, Nazareth D'Souza) bt Chinai 0; Rizvi 7 (Khalid Jamal 3, Luciano D'Souza 2, Melwin Vaz, Inchen Lanuchuba) bt NM 1 (Mrikunj Dhillon); Khalsa 5 (Agnelo Fernandes 2, Sandeep Kamble, Marlon Pinto, Darshit Shetty) bt Andrew's 1 (Jackson D'Silva); Mithibai 8 (Lance Fonseca 3, Savio Alva 2, Aston D'Souza 2, Kanal Nagvekar) bt Maharashtra 1 (Omer Ahmed)

Golden Boot frontrunners

The top scorers in the varsity football league (in matches from Super league onwards) are:

Luciano D'Souza (Rizvi) 9, Sydney Mascarenhas (Siddharth) 7, Lance Fonseca (Mithibai) 6, Alva Savio (Mithibai) 5, Inchen Lanuchuba (Rizvi) 5, Omer Ahmed (Maharashtra) 5, Ashton D'Souza (Mithibai) 4, Nazareth D'Souza (Siddharth) 3, Amol Khaire (Siddharth) 3, Agnelo Fernandes (Khalsa) 3, Khalid Jamal (Rizvi) 3.