Anorthosis escaped from the AEK Arena with a draw to maintain their four-point lead at the top of the table, while Doxa Katokopias moved into second place following their 2-1 win over Aris.
Apollon put five past Nea Salamina while Apoel had to dig deep to defeat Alki. Omonia’s miserable start to the season continued as they dropped two more points against Olympiakos.
Anorthosis managed to put an end to a seven-game losing run against AEK in Larnaca thanks to a goal in the final minute of added time by striker Demba Kamara, his first of the season.
After a very poor first half, where neither side was willing to commit players forward, AEK took the lead in the 77th minute through Florian Taulemeuse and should have wrapped up the game a minute from time, but Larena squandered a great chance to double his team’s tally.
Chrysovalantis Kapartis, Olympiakos’ Cypriot midfielder, left around 10,000 Omonia fans at the GSP on Saturday stunned as he headed in his team’s equaliser in the 94th minute in a game that Omonia should have won by a healthy margin.
Omonia have now failed to defeat all three promoted teams this season, leaving their coach Pambos Christodoulou baffled.
“There are no words to express what I am feeling,” he said. “In a game where we should have won with ease, we paid the price of our wastefulness yet again. This is football.”
Another late goal proved decisive in the Alki v Apoel game in Larnaca where Apoel’s Ghayas Zahid nipped in between two defenders to poke the ball into the net in added time.
Apoel were slow and predictable in the first half and improved after the break only when veteran winger Stathis Aloneftis was introduced.
In the second half Apoel hit the post twice and Igor de Camargo missed from the penalty spot for the second time in three games until Aloneftis burst into the box and crossed for Zahid to give the Nicosia team an unlikely win.
Apollon produced one their best displays of the season so far as they demolished Nea Salamina by 5-0.
Alex da Silva was by far the most impressive player on the field as he scored twice and created the other three.
Da Silva opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 8th minute while 8 minutes later he threaded a pass to Antonio Jakolis to double the score.
From the restart, da Silva got his second and then fed Emilio Zelaya for Apollon’s fourth while the rout was completed by Nicola Martinez in 64th minute.
Doxa continued their impressive start to the season with a 2-1 win over Aris.
Doxa were the better team for most of the game and took the lead through Redondo in the 17th minute while Asamoah doubled the score just after the hour mark.
Ten minutes from the end Aris pulled a goal back through Pangalos.
AEL defeated Ethnikos Achnas 1-0 thanks to a de Leonzo strike while in Pafos, Pafos FC came from behind to defeat Ermis Aradippou 2-1 with Dominguez and Goullon getting on the scoresheet for the winners.
