APOEL hoping to bounce back

LEAGUE Leaders APOEL will be hoping to bounce back from their defeat at the hands of Apollon Limassol last Saturday as they take on Enosis Neon Paralimniou in Nicosia this evening at 5pm.

Last weekend, George Merkis’ 94th minute winner condemned APOEL to their first defeat of the season and brought second place Omonia to within one point of Marinos Ouzounides’ side.

The Greek coach will be without suspended captain Marinos Satsias, who was booked in last weekend’s tense encounter in Limassol, but could have new Greek signing Miltos Sapanis in the team should his transfer formalities be completed in time.

The 31-year-old midfielder could very well deputize for Satsias should Portuguese midfielder Helio Pinto not overcome a nagging foot problem.

Omonia, who have recently replaced Romanian coach Ioan Andone with experienced Greek coach Yiannis Mantzourakis, face a tricky test away to Ayia Napa tomorrow – the same side that held them to a shock 2-2 draw in Larnaca in the first round.

The greens will be without Vlatko Grozdanovski who looks set to sign former Rapid Bucharest and Brazilian midfielder Ze Elias but welcome back Costas Kaiafas, Magno Mocelin, Sinisa Dobrasinovic, Nelson Vega and Daniel Balan who all return from suspension.

The other eye catcher is tonight’s late kick off between fourth place Apollon and fifth place AEL Limassol in the local derby. Apollon welcome back Gabor Korolovsky and Bogdan Andone whilst George Panayi is still out of action with injury and Iraqi international Mohammed Nassir is abroad on international duty.

In other games, Aris Limassol will be hoping to go level on point with Ethnikos Achnas when they meet in Limassol on Sunday, Nea Salamina host relegation stricken Olympiakos Nicosia and Timuri Ketsbaia’s Anorthosis Famagusta, who are third in the league, are away to Dighenis Morphou who languishing just above the drop zone.

In Larnaca, sixth place AEK Larnaca face a difficult game against an improving AEP Paphos side.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.