SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine — Barring a major upset, champions Portmore United should qualify for the quarter-finals of the LIME/St Catherine Knockout football competition despite playing away to a tough Black Lion outfit at Irish Pen, starting at 3:00 pm today.

Premier League giants Portmore have won the knockout crown on five occasions since entering the competition in 2002 and the general feeling is that they should once again be in the mix this season.

The Linval Dixon-conditioned unit will be making their first appearance in the competition this year after being given a first-round bye, but could be made to work overtime against Black Lion, who have so far been invincible in the Major League with 13 points.

The other second-round matches to be contested today will see Tru-Juice hosting Dela Vega City at Bybrook Oval, Newlands playing Albion at Albion Oval and Portsmouth tackling Rodwood at Portsmouth.

Meanwhile, Fraziers Whip, Rivoli United and Naggo Head all progressed to the last eight of the competition

with contrasting second-round victories at the weekend, but Royal Lakes were no doubt the surprise package of the round.

The Major League team eliminated South Central Confederation Super League champions Meadows FC with a 1-0 win in the feature match of a Spanish Town Prison Oval double-header.

Royal Lakes took a 17th-minute lead through Orville Mullings then survived an onslaught from Meadows, whose woeful evening was summed up in two missed penalties.

In the other game of the curtain-raiser, a brace from Kemar Beckford piloted Division One team Fraziers to a 4-0 win over DB Basovak, and a Fidel Anderson double highlighted Rivoli’s 3-0 win over Spanish Town Police, while Naggo Head needed a 6-5 penalty shoot-out triumph over Treadways.