Five sent off as Cyprus overcome Serbia
Friday, October 11, 2013
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Cyprus 2-1 Serbia
Cyprus gained their second win of the campaign from a qualifying Group 9 match which featured five red cards – three in added time.
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Cyprus moved up to second place in UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying Group 9 following a stormy encounter with Serbia in which five players were sent off.
The first red card was shown on 27 minutes to Cyprus's Zacharias Theodorou for a late challenge on Petar Golubović, yet despite their numerical disadvantage the hosts went in front early in the second half when Dimitris Froxylias converted from the spot after Uroš Spajić had fouled Nikos Englezou.
Michael Thalassitis, who also struck a post from long range in the first half, headed the hosts further ahead from an Englezou cross with a little over a quarter of an hour remaining – but was then sent off for a second bookable offence with three minutes left. By that time, Serbia had halved the arrears courtesy of Aleksandar Mitrović's spot kick, awarded after Andreas Christofides tripped Filip Đuričić.
Then, after Serbia captain Uroš Ćosić's free-kick evaded everyone in added time and rebounded off the bar, the match erupted, with Cyprus skipper Alexandros Konstantinou, Ćosić and team-mate Aleksandar Pantić being dismissed following a melee.
