Angolan striker Freddy scored a first-half injury-time goal to provide Omonia Nicosia with a narrow 1-0 victory over Anorthosis Ammochostos in the fourth round of the national football championship at Larnaca’s Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium over the weekend.
“This is a very bad result for us,” Anorthosis’ manager Stanimir Stoilov assessed.
“I cannot be satisfied with our display as we were very anxious throughout the game. Before the game I said that whoever scores first will probably win and that is exactly what happened. We created several goal scoring opportunities, but unfortunately failed to convert them. This is clearly a psychological problem and something we need to work on,” Stoilov added.
Anorthosis’ fans were certainly not pleased with the result against fierce rivals from Nicosia and they made sure everyone was aware of that after the game.
“This is a normal reaction from our fans. When you lose a game there are always reactions. The fans are not happy, but ever since I came to this club there were reactions regardless if we won or lost. If I was a fan, maybe I would react in the same way,” Stoilov concluded.
Omonia’s manager Neophytos Larkou was pleased with the final results but he warned his players: “We must stay firmly on the ground and we should not overestimate our potential.”
“This was a very beneficial win for us. Besides the obvious three points it also raised the self-confidence of our players and motivated them to do even better in the games to come. We controlled the pace of the game and if were a bit more focused in the penalty area we could have scored another goal or two,” Larkou added.
The defending champions APOEL had a difficult time overcoming Aris Limassol’s resistance at the GSP Stadium, with the winner coming four minutes from time through William Boaventura.
“It was an interesting game from the beginning until the end. When you play against irritatingly disciplined team such as Aris you must be patient. Their second-half defending was truly well organised and gave us limited space to create opportunities,” said APOEL’s manager Ivan Jovanovic, analysing the proceedings.
“We have stressed to our players that this will not be an easy game despite the clear difference in quality. Aris were disciplined and with a bit of luck they could have had a point from this match,” Jovanovic added.
Elsewhere, AEK recovered from a goal down to top Ethnikos Achnas 2-1 at the GSZ Stadium in Larnaca with Gonzalo Garcia scoring the decider in the first minute of added time, while Cedric Moukouri scored the only goal of the game as Enosis Neon Paralimni beat Ermis Aradippou away from home. AEL Limassol remained unbeaten after a 1-0 victory over Alki Larnaca at the Tsirion Stadium with Portuguese forward Henrique finding the net.
In the final two games of Round 4, Anagennisi Derynias hosted Nea Salamina, while Apollon arrived in Nicosia where they were to take on Olympiakos yesterday evening.
