Olympiakos Nicosia stun APOEL; Salamina beaten by Pafos
CYPRIOT FIRST DIVISION - MATCHDAY 12
| Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6-Dec-19 | Pafos | 1 - 0 | Nea Salamina |
| 7-Dec-19 | Ol. Nicosia | 2 - 0 | APOEL |
Olympiakos Nicosia may have delivered the upset of the season in the Cypriot First Division with a 2-0 win at home to APOEL, while Pafos earned a 1-0 victory against Nea Salamina.
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Olympiakos Nicosia hosted APOEL at the Makario Stadio in Nicosia, which their opponents also called home between 1978 and 1999. APOEL had an early chance on a free kick from a good position, but Pavol Bajza sprawled out and parried Uros Matic’s low strike aside. Bajza came up huge again when Alef was alone with only the goalkeeper to beat.
The hosts broke through on what started as a seemingly innocuous play. Paris Psaltis cleared the ball and Jonathan Ayite backheeled the ball to Dylan Duventru. Duventru still had plenty of yellow shirts in his way, but he approached goal, moved past the APOEL defence and beat a surprised Vid Belec to make it 1-0 for Olympiakos in the 36th minute.
Antonio Jakolis looked to make something happen and level the score, he found Andre Vidigal in some space, but his shot was right at Bajza.
APOEL continued to press, but their accuracy started to fade, including multiple chances for Andrija Pavlovic that missed the target. Pavlovic then hurt his side further by tugging the shirt of Bilal Hamdi as he chased a good ball from Panayiotis Zachariou. Pavlovic was shown a red card and sent off.
On the ensuing free kick, Kiko made them pay in the 83rd minute. He struck a hard, low strike around the wall and past a befuddled Belec. Down a man and beyond frustrated, APOEL had no choice but to accept the 2-0 defeat at the hands of Olympiakos Nicosia. Olympiakos shoot up to ninth place with three vital points, six clear of the drop zone. APOEL remain in third place, nine points adrift of leaders Anorthosis, now with only two games in hand.
In the Friday game, Pafos FC hosted Nea Salamina at the Stelios Kyriakidis Stadium in Paphos. There was a lot of two-way traffic throughout the first half, but neither side could seem to hit the target.
Finally, Jason Puncheon put a shot on goal, but Robert Veselovsky saw it through traffic and kept it out. Puncheon tried again with more power a little later, but once again, Veselovsky was ready for it.
In the second half, the home side took more control of the match. Va tried one from a bad angle, but Veselovsky knocked it aside. In the 58th minute, they finally broke through. Puncheon served in the corner, the ball eventually found Paulus Arajuuri, and his header from a long way out eluded both Veselovsky and Ioannis Kosti who mistimed his jump on the back line.
Salamina’s route back into the game became exceptionally difficult when Kypros Christoforou received his second yellow card. Nonetheless, they did nearly steal a point in stoppage time. After a night of having little to do, Artur Rudko made a timely save on Benjamin Lambot to preserve the 1-0 win for Pafos over Salamina. No harm done to Salamina in the standings, they remain in seventh place. Pafos improve to eighth place, on the other hand.
