Anorthosis shock Apollon, AEL keep rolling
| Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Nov-18 | Apollon Limassol | 1 - 2 | Anorthosis |
| 3-Nov-18 | Paralimni | 2 - 0 | Alki Oroklini |
| 3-Nov-18 | AEK Larnaca | 0 - 1 | AEL Limassol |
Anorthosis pulled up a sizable 2:1 away upset over Apollon, Enosis Neon Paralimni collected a 2:0 win at home to Alki Oroklini, and AEL remain hot with a 1:0 statement win away to AEK Larnaca.
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Apollon hosted Anorthosis at the Tsirion Stadio in Limassol. Apollon lost their league lead last week, and they hoped a home match against a struggling Anorthosis side would be just the ticket. However, they couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start. Just 55 seconds in, Ruben Rayos put a relatively harmless shot on goal, which Bruno Vale saved, but carelessly spilled the rebound to Michal Duris. Duris tapped the ball just enough to get it over the line, and Anorthosis had the immediate opener. This seemed to awaken Apollon, but for all their possession, just could not hit the net, including a shot from Facundo Pereyra that hit the inside of the post that came right back to him, but he could only send the rebound wide. Things only went from bad to worse for the hosts, as in the 33rd minute, another soft goal on Vale, as a cross to Duris was volleyed right between his legs. A second goal for Duris, and a 2:0 halftime lead for the visitors.
The second half began with more bad luck for Apollon, but finally a break as Anton Maglica followed his own attempt that hit the crossbar and slid the ball past Dimitris Demetriou to get his side on the board in the 47th minute. Sasa Markovic came close to an equalizer, but once again the woodwork was a friend to Demetriou, the inside of the post yet again. It wasn’t the last time either. Fotis Papoulis was also denied by the post. The hosts kept knocking, they did get one on net when Douglao set up Joao Pedro, but Demetriou was there to make the save. Demetriou made one last save on Andre Schembri in stoppage time, and Anorthosis hung on for the 2:1 away win, thanks to a good first half, good goalkeeping, and a bit of luck. Apollon remain in 2nd place, 6 points back of AEL Limassol with a game in hand. Anorthosis remain in 7th place but in better position to make up some ground.
At the Tasos Markou Municipal Stadium in Paralimni, Enosis Neon Paralimni hosted Alki Oroklini. Enosis Neon Paralimni earned a penalty early, but Duncan Rasmussen’s penalty was saved by Giorgos Panagi. El Hedi Belameiri had a good run down the wing for Alki, but Boris Klaiman was aggressive and made the save. The keepers had all the answer, and there was no score at the half.
The breakthrough came in the second half, in the 74th minute, as a free kick from a sizable distance off the boot of Sito Riera eluded Panagi, curled into the top corner to give Paralimni the lead. Chigozie Udoji tacked on another goal in the 85th minute at Enosis Neon Paralimni took a 2:0 win at home over Alki Oroklini. Enosis Neon Paralimni improve to 8th place while Alki fall to 10th place.
AEK Larnaca hosted AEL Limassol at the Giorgos Karapatakis AEK Arena in Larnaca. The best chance of the first half fell for Ruben Jurado, but his shot was straight at Tono Ramirez. The sides more or less cancelled each other out and went into halftime deadlocked at 0:0.
The difference in this match came in the second half, as a backpass to Tono Ramirez caused it. Ramirez thought he had much more time than he did to play the ball, and Jurado pounced on it and scored an easy goal in the 50th minute. After that, AEK turned up the pressure, but other than a free kick by Acoran that was stopped by Patryk Procek, they had trouble making Procek work, and the costly mistake gave AEL the 1:0 win. AEL extend their lead in the league to 6 points over second place Apollon. AEK are still in 4th place, 9 points back of AEL with two games in hand.
