Omonoia held to controversial draw, Salamina stun AEL, Trickovski leads AEK rally
CYPRIOT FIRST DIVISION - MATCHDAY 16
| Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-Jan-20 | Omonia | 0 - 0 | Pafos |
| 11-Jan-20 | Ethnikos Achnas | 2 - 5 | AEK Larnaca |
| 11-Jan-20 | AEL Limassol | 1 - 2 | Nea Salamina |
Omonoia and Pafos FC played to a goalless draw, but not without controversy while Nea Salamina earned a surprise 2-1 win away to AEL Limassol, and AEK Larnaca overcame an early deficit to win 5-2 away to Ethnikos Achnas.
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Omonoia hosted Pafos FC in the Friday game at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia. Even early on, there was controversy, as Eric Bautheac made a pass across that struck the elbow of a sliding Zdenek Folprecht. Omonoia pleaded their case for a penalty, but it wasn’t given. At the other end, Jerson Cabral forced an awkward save by Fabiano. Michael Ortega had a well-placed attempt, but Artur Rudko was able to get to it in time. Andreas Panayiotou Filiotis lined up a shot, but Fabiano saw it all the way. Neither side found the back of the net, and there was no score at the half.
Omonoia turned up the heat in the second half. Bautheac played in a corner that found Matt Derbyshire, and Rudko made a great save to keep him at bay.
Omonoia continued to keep the Pafos net under siege, and with just under ten minutes to go, Andronikos Kakkoulis dribbled into the box, tried to make a move around Folprecht, and was clipped and brought down. Kakkoulis screamed for a penalty, but none was given. On replay, it seemed obvious that Folprecht missed the ball and instead caught Kakkoulis’ left leg, but once again, Omonoia didn’t get the call.
Bautheac found himself alone with Rudko, but the Ukrainian keeper came out on top. Alexandros Konstantinou tried to steal a late winner, but Fabiano managed to knock it aside, and the stalemate endured to the final whistle. Omonoia remain in second place, Pafos are in 10th place, five points clear of the danger zone.
AEL Limassol hosted Nea Salamina at the Tsirion Stadio in Limassol. Salamina were able to quickly quiet the home crowd with an 11th minute goal. Charles Eloundou found Jay Simpson, who made a pass across that Vozinha should have been able to intercept, but somehow it found Kingsley Onuegbu who was all too happy to collect an easy goal to make it 1-0 for Salamina.
Andreas Avraam looked for the quick answer, but Tasos Kissas denied him with a strong save. Vozinha earned himself a measure of redemption with big saves on Simpson and Eloundou limiting AEL’s halftime deficit to 1-0.
Early in the second half, AEL faced more adversity when Davor Zdravkovski saw his second yellow and got sent off. Despite that, AEL carried the play, and after Kissas made great saves on Avraam and Ryan Mmaee, he gave up a goal he should have had off the head of Andre Teixeira. It was straight at him, but it went off his arms and in, leveling the match in the 67th minute.
AEL then got a golden opportunity to go ahead when Adnan Aganovic drew a penalty. Ruben Jurado stepped up to take the penalty, and it was a good one, but not good enough, and Kissas with a phenomenal save kept it out. Kissas then made another impressive save on Avraam from a free kick.
Salamina, still up a man had their own chances, and they made AEL rue the chances they didn’t take. An 85th-minute free-kick found Simpson, who snuck behind the AEL defense, and beat Vozinha. On replay, it seemed as though Simpson got away with being offside, but it wasn’t detected, and Salamina got themselves a surprising 1-2 win away to AEL Limassol. Salamina leapfrog AEL into fifth place, knocking AEL down to sixth place, though both are on 23 points.
Ethnikos Achnas hosted AEK Larnaca at the Dasaki tis Achnas in the village of Achna in southeastern Cyprus. The sides traded chances early, with Tono Ramirez stopping Ibrahim Koneh, and Martin Bogatinov sprawling out to deny Ivan Fiolic.
Ethnikos broke the ice in the 19th minute, Miguelito crossed in for Jovan Kostovski, and with a header he beat Ramirez, to make it 1-0 for Ethnikos.
Ethnikos doubled their advantage in the 35th minute, as Illya Markovskyy did well to stay onside and with all day to pick his spot, beat Ramirez to make it 2-0. Ethnikos were able to take that 2-0 lead into the halftime break.
AEK rained fire on the Ethnikos net and finally made it count, as Ivan Trickovski planted himself at the far post and finally solved Bogatinov in the 58th minute.
Trickovski bested his fellow countryman again 20 minutes later with a shot from outside the box, for a stunning equalizer.
Everything quickly fell apart for Ethnikos after that, and AEK drew a penalty when Hector Hevel was hauled down in the box. Trickovski was given the chance to complete the hat trick, and the AEK skipper did just that with an 82nd-minute penalty, giving AEK the 3-2 lead, and they never looked back, and neither did Trickovski who struck again in the 85th minute and capped off his five-star performance with a chip in the 88th minute. A match they trailed for 78 minutes, AEK ended up winning comfortably, 5-2 away to Ethnikos Achnas. AEK remain in seventh place, but now only one point outside the playoffs. Ethnikos are in ninth.
