APOEL end ‘exceptional’ year on top in Cyprus

DEFENDING champions APOEL beat APOP Kinyras Peyias 3-1 at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia over the weekend to stay top, as the league heads into the winter break.

Marcin Zewlakow put APOEL ahead after only three minutes and Chrysis Michael made it 2-0 seven minutes before time from the penalty spot.

Serbian international Nenad Mirosavljevic converted another penalty in injury time to increase the lead before Jose Semedo netted a consolation, with yet another spot-kick.

“The final score does not reflect proceedings on the pitch but our victory was fair, APOEL coach Ivan Jovanovic said after the match.

“We knew before the game that we would have to work hard to beat APOP and, fortunately enough, we got an goal early. However, that never meant that we would go through the game without any problems.” He added: “We stayed focused and determined as we were aware that towards the end of the game APOP would start to take more risks and leave us space for the counter-attack.

I must also say that this has been an exceptional year for us, with only good memories.” In other games, Omonia recorded a 3-1 away victory against AEP Paphos to go level on points at the top.

Ghana international Imoro Lukman opened proceedings after 11 minutes to put the hosts ahead, but Takis Lemonis’ men turned things around before the half-time interval, with Elias Charalambous and Maciej Zurawski both finding the net.

Michalis Konstantinou then made it 3-1 nine minutes into the second half.

Apollonas managed only a 1-1 home draw against Enosis Neon Paralimniou, but coach Thomas von Heesen was disappointed with his team’s effort. “It was a difficult game for us. We wanted to push from the first minute, but we couldn’t because we were not fresh enough,” he said. “When you are not fresh and aggressive and also lose the battle in the centre of the pitch, then things are always going to be difficult.” Both APEP and Ethnicos Achnas recorded 2-1 home victories over Aris Limassol and Nea Salamina respectively, while Doxa Katokopia upset AEL with a narrow 1-0 win courtesy of Portuguese midfielder Carlos Andre.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.