Arnal Conde scores twice as Alki upset APOEL

APOEL’s manager Ivan Jovanovic was frustrated after his team suffered an unexpected 2-1 defeat against Alki in Larnaca over the weekend, to start the new calendar year in the worst possible way.

“It was a very difficult game and I believe that we deserved the final result as we were simply not good enough,” admitted Jovanovic. 

“Our midfielders were not performing well and this gave confidence to our opponents that they could take all three points from this game, especially after they equalised. 

“This is absolutely unacceptable.

“In the second half we missed many chances to score and then, in a defensive mistake, provided Alki with the chance to win and they grabbed it. 

“I do not know if this defeat will influence us in a positive or negative manner, but we must do better and, as I said, we deserved to be punished for our sloppy first-half performance,” he added.

Ivan Trickovski opened the proceedings after only three minutes, but Arnal Conde levelled the score in 36th minute and the same player scored the winner three minutes into the injury time.

“This is a great success for our team, not only because we got the three points, but it also has a psychological value,” stressed Alki’s manager Radmilo Ivancevic.

“We conceded early and that confused us a bit; however, we recovered quickly and followed the game plan which eventually provided us with the very important victory.” 

Elsewhere, Anorthosis beat Nea Salamina 3-0 in a Larnaca derby, while AEL trounced Enosis Neon Paralimni 4-0 away from home. Ethnikos Achnas topped Ermis Aradippou 2-1, while Bangura scored the only goal in Apollon’s 1-0 victory over Anagennisi Derynias. Olympiakos Nicosia and AEK Larnaca played out a 1-1 draw.

AEL tops the league standings with 34 points, while APOEL is now in second place with 32. Omonoia and Anorthosis are in third and fourth respectively with 31 points, but the Nicosia team had a game against Aris Limassol in hand, which was played last night at the GSP Stadium.