Omonoia and Anorthosis keep the pace
CYPRIOT FIRST DIVISION - MATCHDAY 18
| Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-Feb-20 | Ethnikos Achnas | 0 - 3 | Pafos |
| 1-Feb-20 | Anorthosis | 3 - 0 | Doxa Katokopias |
| 1-Feb-20 | Ol. Nicosia | 0 - 2 | Omonia |
Both Omonoia and Anorthosis were victorious on Saturday while Pafos had an easy trip away to Ethnikos Achnas.
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Omonoia and Anorthosis have been the top two for most of the season and they entered play on Saturday separated by just a point. The status quo remains after Omonoia won 2-0 away to Olympiakos Nicosia, while Anorthosis retained their place at the top with a win of their own, 3-0 at home to Doxa Katokopias. Meanwhile, Pafos FC won 3-0 away to Ethnikos Achnas.
Olympiakos Nicosia hosted Omonoia at the Makario Stadio in Nicosia, which was also home to Omonoia from 1978-1999, and of course, Omonoia openly flirted with returning there late last season. Despite their win last week with fourth-choice keeper Charalambos Kyriakidis in net, Omonoia made a move at the January transfer deadline, acquiring Costel Pantilimon, the 33-year-old Romanian international who among his career highlights was Joe Hart’s backup at Manchester City from 2011-2014, making seven appearances. Olympiakos also had a new man in net, Markos Vellidis who has appeared for the Greek national team.
Jordi Gomez let fly with a shot, and Vellidis did well to parry it aside. Then Vellidis had to cut off Jan Lecjaks from close range. Finally, Omonoia broke down the door with all their early pressure, and the payoff came from a 21st-minute corner. The corner found Adam Lang, who headed it on goal, and Matt Derbyshire was there to blast it past a helpless Vellidis, making it 1-0 for Omonoia.
Olympiakos tried to respond, Kiko struck a free-kick that snuck through the maze of bodies, but Pantilimon managed to find it and cover it. Instead, Omonoia doubled their advantage in the 42nd minute. Eric Bautheac unleashed Charis Mavrias down the wing, and there was Derbyshire again to receive the cross, and head it past Vellidis, who once again had no chance. That score stood up, as Omonoia took the resulting 2-0 lead into halftime.
Early in the second half, Derbyshire was gunning for the hat trick, and Vellidis made an incredible save to prevent what looked like the goal that would surely do it. Trying to get his side back in the match, Kiko crossed in for Panayiotis Zachariou, but Pantilimon stopped the ensuing header. Omonoia were able to hang on for the 2-0 away win over Olympiakos Nicosia. Omonoia remain in second place, just one point behind Anorthosis. Olympiakos for their part are in eighth.
Anorthosis hosted Doxa Katokopias at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium in Larnaca. Anorthosis had the early jump in this one and Nika Kacharava forced a nice save by Thierry Graca. Against the run of play, Doxa created a golden opportunity. Vasilis Papafotis found Carlitos, who did the hard part by dribbling around Giorgi Loria, but with the Georgian keeper behind him, Carlitos was unable to hit the empty net from an awkward angle, as the stadium breathed a sigh of relief.
It looked like Doxa would get out of the first half unscathed, but Giorgos Galitsios had other ideas, nodding a corner through the legs of Graca in the final minute of the first half, and Anorthosis took a 1-0 lead into the halftime break.
The second half began much the same way. Just 40 seconds into the second half, a long through ball found Nikos Kaltsas, who somehow managed to settle it as well as he did, and that left him all day to pick a spot in the large net behind Graca, and sure enough, he buried it to make it 2-0 for the home side.
Doxa stepped up the pressure to try to get back into the match, but their shots all came from distance, and Loria came up with saves on Papafotis, Ze Valente, and Vladimir Boljevic. After that flurry, Anorthosis regained their bearings, and Giorgos Manthatis rang one off the crossbar, and then Graca denied Yevhen Selin.
Instead, an unlikely source dealt the final blow. Newly arrived from Omonoia, it was Dimitris Christofi unloading a strike from outside the box that beat Graca, and the 82nd-minute goal sealed the deal. Anorthosis earns a big 3-0 win at home to Doxa Katokopias, and as such they remain in first place, still just one point ahead of Omonoia. Doxa remain in 12th and last place, six points in the hole to 10th place Ethnikos Achnas.
Speaking of which, Ethnikos Achnas hosted Pafos FC at the Dasaki tis Achnas, in the village of Achna in southeastern Cyprus. An early good chance for the visitors fell for Nahir Besara, but it was turned aside by Martin Bogatinov. Bogatinov came up large again batting aside a header from Kevin Lafrance.
In the 32nd minute, Pafos broke through. Marcelo Torres made a nifty pass to Onni Valakari, who patiently dribbled around a sliding defender, uncorked a shot that hit the bottom of the crossbar, and he got the bounce, beating Bogatinov to make it 1-0 for the visitors. Ethnikos thought they deserved a penalty when Mickael Panos had a shot blocked by Paulus Arajuuri. They reasoned that Arajuuri got his hand on it, but if it was, it was ruled to be inadvertent, and Pafos retained their 1-0 halftime advantage.
Early in the second half, Ethnikos again wanted a penalty when Jovan Kostovski was hauled down in the box, but again their appeals fell of deaf ears. In the 73rd minute, Torres connected with Valakari again, it was a weak pass that Bogatinov should have been able to cover long before it reached its intended target, but instead, the pass made it to Valakari, and he had his second goal of the match.
To add insult to injury, Andreas Panayiotou Filiotis intercepted a pass and raced in on goal, jumped over a sliding defender, and slotted it past Bogatinov, making it 3-0 in the 83rd minute. Finally, Ethnikos got the penalty they wanted all along, Ihor Khudobyak went down in the box. Vincent Laban got the assignment to take the penalty. He took a stutter step, and then another, and got the ball in the net past Artur Rudko. Rudko protested, and the Ukrainian keeper got his way. The second stutter-step was ruled an attempt, and as such the goal was disallowed.
Nothing went right for Ethnikos, and Pafos collected a 3-0 away win at the Dasaki. A big three points for Pafos, they move up into ninth place, three points further into safety. Ethnikos fall to 10th, still safe, but only two points clear of the 11th place danger zone.
