DARLINGTON striker Amar Purewal has fired Panjab into the semi-finals of the CONIFA World Cup with his second hat-trick of the week.

Two days after hitting a treble in his team’s 5-0 win over Somaliland in the group stage, in a 3-2 quarter-final win today Purewal was again in top form against Western Armenia with all of his goals coming before the break.

The Quakers forward was replaced in the latter stages with his team-mates, including twin brother Arjun, who plays for Bishop Auckland, surviving some nervy closing moments as Western Armenia pulled back two goals, but Panjab hung to set up a semi-final match.

The semi-final will be played on Saturday against Padania with the final taking place the following day against either Northern Cyprus or hosts Abkhazia.

The CONIFA World Cup, for unrecognised states and is a competition not recognised by FIFA, is being held in Georgia.

The 12-team tournament, the second edition of a competition first held in 2014, also includes teams from: Chagos Islands, Kurdistan, Raetia, Székely Land and, United Koreans in Japan.