Cyprus round-up: APOEL in the driving seat

Omonia FC suffered yet another setback in their Cypriot title challenge after losing 2-1 at home to Cypriot Cup finalists Ethnikos Achnas FC, with APOEL Nicosia FC widening the gap at the top of Division A.

Effective counterattacks
Despite dominating the play, Omonia - who were knocked out of the Cypriot Cup semi-finals last week - could not beat Yugoslavian keeper Aleksandar Kocic in the Achnas goal and the visitors hit them on the break. Dragoslav Music put Achnas ahead on 32 minutes after his seemingly harmless header from Borje Gjurev's cross flew past goalkeeper Tassos Yiallouris with Christos Poyiatzis' cross also eluding the Omonia keeper and ending up in the net minutes after the restart. Ioakim Ioakim reduced the deficit for shell-shocked Omonia in the 61st minute, but it was too little, too late and Achnas held on to take the points.

APOEL widen gap
APOEL took full advantage of Achnas' win as Egen Gerard's men beat lowly Achnas 5-1 at the Makarios Athletic Center to extend their lead at the top of the Cypriot first division. APOEL took an early lead thanks to Marios Agathocleous' header from a Kostas Malekos free-kick, but Ashias were quickly on level terms after Renos Demetriades' first-time strike beat APOEL keeper Michalis Morfis. APOEL came out rampant in the second period and managed to score four more times through Kostas Malekos, a double from Elias Solakis and Marios Elias.

AEL go second
Meanwhile, AEL Limassol FC also took advantage of Omonia's defeat and moved ahead of the Cypriot champions in the league standings with a comfortable 4-1 win over Doxa Katokopia FC at the Tsirium Athletic Center in Limassol. Lambros Lambrou started off the rout inside the first six minutes, with Josef Sebok doubling his sides' lead ten minutes later with an accurate strike. Substitute Alexis Garpozis made it 3-0 with his first touch of the ball on 66 minutes before Nicos Nicolaou reduced the deficit for Doxa with a powerful shot. Stelios Trattos sealed the win for AEL with a spectacular first-time volley from a Sebok pass.

AEK win derby
AEK Larnaca FC were the victors in the Larnaca derby as Dusan Mitosevic's side defeated Ilie Dumitrescu's Alki FC. Goals from Kokos Elias and Louis Eleftheriou were enough to earn the three points for AEK, with Yiannakis Pontikos grabbing an late consolation goal for Alki.

Enosis struggle
Enosis Neon Paralimni FC had a difficult afternoon dismantling bottom of the table Ermis Aradippos FC 1-0 in Paralimni. Nikodemos Papavasiliou's 57th minute strike was enough to separate the two sides in front of a capacity crowd in Paralimni. In the day's other game, AEP Paphos FC outclassed Apollon Limassol FC 3-1 with goals from Sasa Jovanovic, Joel Luphahla and an own goal from youngster Andreas Merkis. Sinisa Dobrasinovc struck late on for Apollon, but the points were already in the bag for AEP.