By Iacovos Constantinou
Apollonas reclaimed top spot in the championship as they defeated Anorthosis by 2-0 while APOEL could only draw against a spirited Omonia. Elsewhere AEK moved into fourth place with a convincing 4-1 thumping of Doxa while all other games, Ethnios-Ermis, Nea Salamina- Ayia Napa and Othellos-AEL ended goalless.
Apollonas had few problems in overcoming a dispirited Anorthosis who were missing a number of key players namely Avraam, Calvo and Laifis
The Limassol team got off to a great start when they were awarded a penalty for handball as early as the 10th minute that their Greek striker Papoulis converted a minute later.
Apollonas controlled play and missed a number of chances to double their score but some wayward finishing and some excellent goalkeeping by Kaminski kept the home side at bay until the last minute when Guie secured the points with a close range strike.
An 82nd thunderbolt from Fofana gave Omonia a deserved point against their fierce local rivals APOEL.
APOEL were the better side in the first half and took the lead on the half hour through Morais who diverted a Charalambides free kick past the Omonia keeper Giorgallides. Lanig had earlier hit the woodwork and Efraim had put the ball into the back of net but the ‘goal’ was correctly disallowed for handball.
In the second half Omonia came out firing on all cylinders and created a host of chances with their goalscorer Fofana hitting the foot of the post from just inside the area and Assis failing to head the ball past APOEL’s keeper Pardo from close range.
Omonia got what they deserved eight minutes from time when Fofana blasted the ball past Pardo after a poor Morais clearance.
Doxa took the lead through Lopo in the 10th minute following a dreadful back pass by AEK’s Catala.
From there on though, AEK’s Brazilian striker Vander took charge, equalizing in the 30th minute and then setting up Nestor Mitides twice to give AEK a two goal cushion. Roberto Colautti wrapped up the scoring with a goal two minutes from time.
No goals were scored in the remaining fixtures leaving the bottom half of the table unchanged.
Nea Salamina were unlucky not to defeat Ayia Napa, missing a number of chances to take all three points.
Ethnikos Achnas also produced a fine diplay against Ermis but could not find a way past Ermis’s keeper Bogadinov and the one time they did the ‘goal’ was (incorrectly) disallowed for offside.
In the final game Othellos and AEL played a poor game with the keepers of both sides never really tested.
NORMAL SEASON FINAL STANDINGS
1. APOLLONAS 48
2. APOEL 46
3. OMONIA 39
4. AEK 39
5. ANORTHOSIS 38
6. ERMIS ARADIPPOU 35
7. AEL 30
8. ETHNIKOS ACHNAS 22
9. NEA SALAMINA 19
10. AYIA NAPA 16
11. OTHELLOS ATHIENOU 16
12. DOXA KATOKOPIAS 14
