APOEL Coach Ivan Jovanovic was a happy man after his side beat AEK Larnaca 1-0 in Round 7 of the national football championship to go level on points with Anorthosis at the top of the standings.
“Today’s game was as expected. We faced a team that is doing well and for this reason they were very enthusiastic,” said Jovanovic.
“However, we deserved to win the game as we performed just well enough to get by.
“My players showed seriousness and discipline throughout the game and this was the key to our eventual victory.
“The championship is very difficult this season and as we could see today we need to be constantly in top form.
“AEK is a very good team and will be a very difficult opponent for everyone, but we need to forget about them now and focus on our following opponents,” concluded Jovanovic.
AEK coach Ton Caanen shared his views of the game in the post-match press conference.
“We faced a team with the best midfield in the league. We tried to control them, but that was a double challenge for us, to stop them and create our own offensive plays from the middle of the pitch,” he said.
Ivan Trickovski scored the only goal of the game at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia in the 78th minute, hitting the top left corner of Alexandre Negri’s goal, after AEK’s defenders failed to clear an outswinging corner from the right.
Elsewhere, at the Tsirion Stadium in Limassol, AEL and Omonia played out a goalless draw.
“It was a mediocre game for both sides, a game full of mistakes,” said Omonia boss Dusan Bajevic afterwards.
“We did try hard tonight as well as our opponents, but, to put it simply, nobody could find the net.
“Our problem is of a tactical nature and we will need to work much more than we have before on that aspect of our game,” Bajevic added.
“We need to move things in the right direction in a very short period of time, so for this reason we must be very precise in what we want to do on the pitch at all times.”
In other games of the round, Olympiakos beat Apollonas 2-1, while APOP Kinyras Peyias narrowly defeated Ethnikos Achnas 1-0.
The games between Alki Larnaca and Doxa Katokopia as well as Enosis Neon Paralimni and high-flying Anorthosis both finished in goalless draws.
