Wins for Salamina and Ermis
The action in the Cypriot First Division continued with two more games, while the two big derbies of the week APOEL-Omonoia and AEK-Apollon were postponed due to the Europa League qualifiers. Nea Salamina Ammochostou started their campaign with an emphatic 5:3 away win over newly promoted Enosis Neon Paralimniou, while Ermis Aradippou got their first points with a 2:0 away win against Alki Oroklinis.
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Salamina went into the Tasos Markou Stadium blazing, in the 3rd minute Boris Kleyman stopped two efforts from Salamina’s attack however their defense was unable to clear the ball and Thiago Santos took advantage to open the score. Seven minutes later, Anderson Correia had a good effort but Kleyman was in position and cleared his shot. Paralimni managed to control the ball and looked for the equaliser as Maximiliano Oliva came close to scoring in the 26th minute with Robert Veselovksy making the save. Four minutes later, Giannis Pittas had another big chance for Paralimni however his shot went just over Veselovsky’s crossbar. In the 35th minute, Pittas was on target as he received a long ball and chipped it over Veselovsky to equalize. An electrical issue right after the goal stopped the game for almost 8 minutes and after the restart, Salamina went on the attack. Charles Eloundou won a penalty and Thiago beat Kleyman for the 2:1 lead. During stoppage time, Ioannis Kosti’s beautiful effort found the back of the net, sending Salamina ahead 3:1 into halftime.
Salamina continued where they left off and seven minutes into the second half, Kingsley Onuegbu moved behind Paralimni’s defense to beat Kleyman for a fourth time. Former Mainz and Celtic striker Nicolas Rasmussen then scored for Paralimni to get back into the game in the 60th minute. The goal, though, helped Salamina rather than Paralimni. First, Kingsley hit the post in the 70th minute and eight minutes later, it was Eloundou’s turn to find the back of the net for the 5:2 Salamina lead. Hovhannes Hambardzumyan scored a late consolation goal to form the final scoreline at 5:3.
Ermis grabbed an important away win over Alki with their captain Yaroslav Martynyuk serving two goals. Just eleven minutes into the game, the Ukrainian took the corner kick where a confused Urko Pardo, who in his effort to clear it sent the ball into his own net. A minute later, Ermis almost doubled their lead, but Ilias Georgiou’s effort went just wide. Alki were unable to answer, with Ermis easily controlling the game with a 1:0 lead going into halftime.
Alki found their first shot on target in the 60th minute after a header from Franco Flores was stopped by Giannis Arabatzis’ post. Alki tried to push for an equalizer, however it was Ermis that found again the back of the net. Martynyuk took the free kick and Georgios Katsiatis’ header beat Pardo in the 73rd minute. With this goal, Katsiatis became the first Cypriot to score in the new season. Ermis did well to defend their two goal lead for the rest of the game and claimed a comfortable 2:0 win.
