Cyprus round-up: Omonia beat title rivals

Omonia FC improved their title prospects with a 2-0 win against Anorthosis Famagusta FC on Saturday.

Joy for Omonia
Belgian striker Gunter Thiebaut fired Omonia into a 53rd-minute lead from Josef Obajdin’s pass and Ioakim Ioakim scored a second 15 minutes before full-time after collecting a Rainer Rauffmann pass and beating Nicos Panagiotou in the Anorthosis goal.

APOEL remain top
Meanwhile, league leaders APOEL Nicosia FC remained rooted at the top of the league standings with an easy 4-1 win over Ethnikos Achnas FC at the Dhasaki stadium in Achnas.

Early lead
APOEL looked to have wrapped up the points inside the first ten minutes as Marinos Satsias rifled a powerful goal from Kostas Malekos’s quickly taken free kick and Elias Solakis’ penalty. Marios Agathocleous made it 3-0 just before half-time with a shot that deflected off Christakis Foullis and flew past substitute goalkeeper Andreas Lambrou. Lambros Lambrou replied for Achnas with a well-executed free kick but his goal was cancelled out just ten minutes later as Konstantinos Charalambides sent a curling effort past the hapless Lambrou on 70 minutes.

Kitanov on hand
AEK Larnaca FC had a difficult afternoon away to relegation bound Doxa Katokopia FC but still escaped with a 2-1 victory thanks to Boban Kitanov’s 84th minute penalty. Louis Eleftheriou got AEK off the mark in the eleventh minute from a Kitanov pass for his 13th goal of the season but Doxa equalized seconds before halftime through youngster Antonis Makris.

Apollon edge Enosis
Apollon Limassol FC continued their improving league performances with a 2-0 win against Enosis Neon Paralimni FC. Apollon were always the better side in the game as Kazakhstan striker Viktor Zubarev scored once in each half and elegant midfield player Milenko Spoljaric rattled the woodwork twice.

Ashias sink Ermis
In the relegation clash, Ethnikos Ashias FC defeated Ermis Aradippos FC 3-1 in Aradippou in front of just 22 spectators. Goals from Deboijsa Pladenovic, Renos Demetriades and Marios Christodoulou were enough to gift Ashias their fifth win of the season with Andreas Adamou scoring an injury-time consolation goal for Ermis.