OMONIA manager Neophytos Larkou was pleased with his side’s 8-1 thrashing of Nea Salamina in the second leg of their Coca Cola Cup Last 16 clash at the Ammochostos Stadium in Larnaca on Wednesday.
“Our aim was to go through. We approached the game seriously and achieved our goal. It is difficult to motivate the team in games like this, but I am very happy that our new signings showed readiness and willingness to perform at the required level.
“Now we must focus on the upcoming league game this weekend,” Larkou said.
Nea Salamina manager Stephen Constantine made it clear that he would rest most of his usual starters as his team’s priority is the national championship and the next game against Apollon. Constantine’s approach backfired as the league leaders ran out 10-1 winners on aggregate.
Anorthosis meanwhile beat second division side APOP Kinyras 3-0 in their second leg encounter to advance 6-2 on aggregate.
All three goals came in the first half for Ronny Levy’s men with Evandro Roncatto scoring twice and newly signed Georgian defender David Kvirkvelia netting his first goal for the team.
“It was very important for us to qualify. We demonstrated how a serious team has to approach a cup game and we controlled the match throughout,” said Levy.
“I also had a chance to give our younger players some playing time and that is always good. It is important that we have achieved our goal and now we will fully concentrate on the league game against AEL,” he added..
Elsewhere, Olympiakos Nicosia beat Omonia Aradippou 3-2, while AEK Larnaca trounced minnows Enosis Neon Pareklisias 5-0 away in their first leg matches.
Olympiakos started the game in great fashion, scoring twice within the first 11 minutes through Ramiro Rendon and Marco Aurelio and when Senegalese striker Moussa Koita hit the third early in the second half, the Aradippou side looked doomed. However, the visitors never gave up and Andreas Kyprianou scored twice to keep his team’s hopes of progression alive.
Round 20 of the Cyprus championship kicks-off tonight at 7pm when APOEL host Ethnikos Achnas at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia.
The game was moved back to Friday evening to allow the Cyprus champions more time to prepare for their eagerly-awaited Last 16 Champions League clash with Lyon in France on Tuesday night.
