AEK Larnaca see off Pafos, Olympiakos Nicosia record big win over Doxa
 

CYPRIOT FIRST DIVISION - MATCHDAY 13

AEK Larnaca earned a 1-0 win at home to Pafos FC, while Olympiakos Nicosia earned a dominating 6-2 away win over Doxa Katokopias.

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AEK Larnaca hosted Pafos FC at the Giorgos Karapatakis AEK Arena in Larnaca. The visitors had the first chance, and Tono Ramirez was alert to knock aside an attempt from Nahir Besara. Instead, AEK struck in the 29th minute. From a free-kick, Florian Taulemesse got his head on it, and with a sliding finish, he beat Artur Rudko to make it 1-0 for AEK. They retained this advantage at the halftime break. 

AEK mostly kept Pafos at an arm’s length throughout the second half. Besara had another excellent chance, but once again, Ramirez made the save. Rudko then got himself in trouble when he fouled Apostolos Giannou outside the box. He pleaded his case, but he still saw red, and Besara was subbed out to allow the backup goalkeeper Evgenios Petrou to replace Rudko in goal. Despite being down a man, Alex Konstantinou still found himself alone with Ramirez, but the Spanish keeper came out on top. AEK hung on for the 1-0 win and as a result, move into fifth place. Pafos fall into 10th place, five points clear of the drop zone, and 11th place Enosis Neon Paralimni who have a game in hand.

In the Friday game, Doxa Katokopias hosted Olympiakos Nicosia at the Makario Stadio in Nicosia. It’s also home to Olympiakos, and they made themselves feel right at home in this one. It started well for Doxa, a routine cross handcuffed Pavol Bajza, and Markos Charalambous was there to slot it home to make it 1-0 for Doxa less than two minutes into the game. 

That lead didn’t even last four minutes. Panayiotis Zachariou rammed home a feed from Dylan Duventru past Armin Gremsl, making it 1-1. 

Doxa looked to regain the lead, and they had their chances. Italo hit the post, then when Charalambous looked for his second goal, Bajza was determined to deny him, and sprawled out to do so. The score remained at 1-1 at halftime.

The second half was another story. Olympiakos pulled ahead for the first time in the 56th minute, when Konstantinos Sotiriou got his head on a corner and beat Gremsl to make it 2-1.

Seven minutes later, Vasilis Papafotis had an answer, curling a shot past Bajza from outside the box. The match was 2-2 and seemed like a potential thriller. 

Instead, Olympiakos took the lead right back in the 65th minute. Paris Psaltis crossed in for Jonathan Ayite, and via a header, beat Gremsl to make it 3-2 for Olympiakos - they never looked back.

Doxa folded after that, and Stefanos Mouhtaris took a handball in the box, and it was a penalty for Olympiakos. Ayite stepped up to take the penalty, he took a stutter step that made Gremsl go down early, and then it was all too easy for him to slot it into the net for an 81st-minute penalty.

Duventru then hustled to keep a ball in play and found Ayite, who nodded it past Gremsl to finish off the hat trick in the 86th minute. To put salt in the open wound for Doxa, Mouhtaris gave away another penalty when he fouled newly entered substitute Rogerio in the box. Though Ayite was still in the match, he gave way for Kiko to take it, and he got the job done. The 89th-minute penalty capped off the scoring, and Olympiakos ran away with the 6-2 win over Doxa. Olympiakos jump up to seventh place in the standings with the win, while the loss keeps Doxa in 12th and last place.

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