Cyprus round-up: APOEL win Nicosia derby

APOEL Nicosia FC moved to within two points of league leaders AEL Limassol FC on Sunday by defeating Olympiakos Nicosia FC 2-0 in the big Cypriot derby match.

Gogic opener
Sinisa Gogic put APOEL ahead right on the stroke of half-time after the Olympiakos defence failed to clear a seemingly innocuous corner from Georgos Aloneftis and Gogic headed decisively past goalkeeper Alexandros Alexandrou. Costas Malekos added the second for APOEL in the 54th minute after he collected a pass from the former Greek international Spyros Marangos and raced into the Olympiakos area before beating Alexandrou with low drive.

AEK sinking
AEK Larnaca FC's below-par performances continued against Ethnikos Achnas FC as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat. Nicos Sofocleous put Achnas into an early lead after he collected a lofted pass from Christodoulos Foullis and beat goalkeeper Savvas Constantinou. Panagiotis Dionysiou made it 2-0 in the 70th minute before AEK captain Pambos Christodoulou scored a consolation goal with a powerful shot that left Aleksandar Kocic stranded.