AEL Limassol held by Doxa, AEK and Olympiakos Nicosia play to a stalemate
 

CYPRIOT FIRST DIVISION - MATCHDAY 15

Doxa Katokopias and AEL Limassol played to a 2-2 draw, while AEK Larnaca and Olympiakos Nicosia also played to a deadlock of the goalless variety.

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Doxa Katokopias hosted AEL Limassol at the Makario Stadio in Nicosia. An early rush got Doxa off to a good start, Ze Valente made a strong run into the box, tried to cut and Jon Gaztanaga mistimed his tackle and clipped him for an easy penalty call. Luis Carlos stepped up to take the penalty and he converted, making it 1-0 for Doxa in the ninth minute. 

Doxa nearly doubled their lead on multiple occasions, especially when Jorginho had a shot deflected that rang off the post. Then they did in the 28th minute when Carlos tried to find Italo. The pass was blocked off by Andreas Avraam, but Italo won the race to the loose ball and tucked it past Vozinha to make it 2-0. 

This finally woke up the heavily favored visitors and Adnan Aganovic blasted a strike past Armin Gremsl in the 34th minute to halve the deficit. AEL continued to carry the play for the rest for the first half, but Doxa remained ahead, 2-1 at halftime.

Early in the second half, the teams traded chances. Gremsl denied a free-kick off the boot of Aganovic, and Jorginho skied a header over the net. Gremsl then rejected a straightforward chance sent his way by Christos Wheeler. 

Aganovic scored a nice goal in the first half, and in the 67th minute, he outdid himself with a splendid strike from outside the box that pinpointed the top corner past Gremsl. The highlight-reel goal leveled the match at 2-2. 

Doxa sought to take the lead back, but Vozinha sprawled out to deny Carlitos from close range. Aganovic had a free-kick, and nobody would have blamed him if he went for the hat trick. Instead, he found the head of Ryan Mmaee, who put it on goal, but Gremsl made the save. Gremsl then batted away Ruben Jurado’s attempt at the near post. 

The match didn’t end before some controversy ensued deep into stoppage time. Aganovic once again wanted to be the hero, to complete the hat trick, and win the match for his side. He shanked his shot wide, but well after the ball was released, Dusko Trajcevski clipped him, and the AEL players screamed for a penalty that wasn’t given. It isn’t clear if Trajcevski made contact with the ball first before he took Aganovic’s legs out from under him, and it’s also possible that Aganovic tripped over Trajcevski during the follow-through following the shot. 

At any rate, the three whistles ended the match, and Doxa and AEL settled for a 2-2 draw. AEL remain in third place, but multiple teams have games in hand on them. Doxa are still in 12th and last place, but they are now tied with Enosis Neon Paralimni, and are just four points shy of the safety of 10th place.

AEK Larnaca hosted Olympiakos Nicosia at the Giorgos Karapatakis AEK Arena in Larnaca. AEK had the right energy to begin the match, but so too did the Olympiakos keeper Pavol Bajza. Bajza was left for dead with Tete all alone with him, making an acrobatic save that he probably shouldn’t have had the right to make. Lluis Sastre fired a bullet, and he did well to not only make the save, but also to not let out a rebound. There was no score at halftime, mostly thanks to the Slovakian keeper. 

AEK continued to try to break down the door. Hector Hevel had his shot knocked aside by Bajza. A long clearance actually sent Apostolos Giannou in on goal, and Sambinha raced back to body him off the ball. Giannou wanted a penalty but none was forthcoming. Finally, Olympiakos had a shot on goal, and Tono Ramirez was able to stop Jonathan Ayite. Ramirez then made a much more difficult save as Ayite set up Rafael Acosta, and forced the Spanish keeper to dive out at full extension to deny him.

The keepers had all the answers, and the full 90 minutes went by without a goal. AEK remain in sixth place, hanging onto the last playoff spot. Olympiakos remain in eighth.

by Andreas Mantzas

Image source: Sport FM Cyprus

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