Anorthosis stay on top, Wins for both Limassol clubs
CYPRIOT FIRST DIVISION - MATCHDAY 8
| Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Nov-19 | Paralimni | 0 - 3 | Apollon Limassol |
| 3-Nov-19 | Anorthosis | 4 - 0 | Ol. Nicosia |
| 4-Nov-19 | AEL Limassol | 2 - 0 | Pafos |
Anorthosis won big at home, 4-0 over Olympiakos Nicosia while Apollon also earned a lopsided victory in Paralimni, 3-0 over Enosis Neon Paralimni. AEL Limassol, for their part, won 2-0 at home to Pafos FC in matchday 8 action in the Cypriot First Division.
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Anorthosis hosted Olympiakos Nicosia at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium in Larnaca. Anorthosis had their first chance on a corner which came to Gordon Schildenfeld, but his header was stopped by Mario Kirev. In the 18th minute, Anorthosis opened the scoring when Ruben Rayos made an incisive pass through traffic that found Michal Duris. Kirev did well to stop the first shot, but Duris got his own rebound and scored. The visitors tried to respond when Dylan Duventru had a go from distance, but Giorgi Loria saw it all the way. The hosts continued to pressure the Olympiakos net, but Kirev made big saves on Giorgos Galitsios and Nika Kacharava to keep the score at only 1-0 in favor of Anorthosis at the half.
However, Anorthosis broke the game wide open in the second half. In the 53rd minute, Nikos Kaltsas set up a close-range strike for Kacharava, and he buried it past Kirev to make it 2-0. Then Kirev made a bad mistake 20 minutes later, when he received a back pass and played it right to Duris who fed Rayos for the easy goal. Rayos added another in the 86th minute off of another feed by Kaltsas. The first shot was blocked before it made it to Kirev, but his second touch did the job. Anorthosis won big, 4-0 at home to Olympiakos Nicosia. Anorthosis with the win remain as they were coming into the weekend, in first place. Olympiakos fall to 11th place and the drop zone.
Enosis Neon Paralimni hosted a struggling Apollon side at the Tasos Markou Municipal Stadium in Paralimni. In the 11th minute, after some pressure, Diego Aguirre pinpointed a pass in front to Serge Gakpe who was there to smash it past Konstantinos Petrou, to make it 1-0 for Apollon. Apollon continued to be the better side throughout the first half, and thanks to a great save by Petrou on Facundo Pereyra, Apollon’s halftime lead stayed limited to 1-0.
Enosis hoped to regroup at halftime, and a great chance fell to Dimitris Theodorou. He went for power, but Joel Mall stood tall to deny him at close range. Then Nico Varela played a free kick to the head of Hovhannes Hambardzumyan but Mall was there again to make the save. In the 64th minute, Apollon regained their bearings, Fotis Papoulis played a through ball to Gakpe, who looked to get it back to Papoulis. That pass didn’t connect, but Joao Pedro was trailing the play and rammed it past Petrou to make it 2-0. 15 minutes later, Apollon capped their scoring when Aguirre blasted a stunning strike that simply overpowered Petrou. He got a piece of it, but it still found the back of the net, and Apollon found a 3-0 away win over Enosis in Paralimni. Apollon improve to 7th place, but still nowhere near where last year’s runners-up want to be. Enosis are in 10th, and whether or not they in the First Division should be a close call again as it was for them last year.
AEL Limassol hosted Pafos FC at the Tsirion Stadio in Limassol. AEL came knocking early with a free kick, Andreas Avraam struck it well, but it came screaming off the crossbar. Then, Gevorg Ghazaryan played in a ball for Minas Antoniou, but Artur Rudko smartly raced out to cut down the angle. Ghazaryan connected with Antoniou again, but again Rudko came out on top, reading the play again to make the save. AEL dominated the first half, but had nothing to show for it, and there was no score at halftime.
It was a throw-in that set up the goal that unlocked the Pafos defense. Avraam showed great vision to throw the ball to Adnan Aganovic inside the box. The Pafos defense were caught napping and they didn’t pick up Aganovic until he was alone with Rudko and he beat the Ukrainian keeper with a hard, low finish to the bottom corner and the inevitable first goal for AEL. They added an insurance marker when Ryan Mmaee played a through ball that found Manuel Torres. Kevin Lafrance was caught flat-footed and Torres bore down on goal, sidestepped an onrushing Rudko, and coolly tucked it past him. The 83rd-minute goal made it 2-0 for AEL, and that’s how it finished. AEL Limassol wins 2-0 at home to Pafos FC. AEL rocket up to third place. Pafos, on the other hand, fall to ninth place.
