Last year’s Cyprus Coca-Cola Cup finalists Apollon Limassol were sent crashing out of the competition on Wednesday after suffering a shock defeat to first division strugglers Ermis Aradippou.
The Limassol club, who lost on penalties to Omonia in the final of last year’s competition, had gone into Wednesday’s second leg at the Ammochostos Stadium 2-1 ahead on aggregate and looked to put Ermis out of contention when Joao Paulo put his side ahead on 20 minutes.
The Portuguese forward then squandered the chance to put the tie beyond doubt when he saw his 70 minute penalty saved by English keeper Corrin Brooks-Meade and Ermis punished them two minutes later when Marios Charalambous equalised.
Ermis, who are bottom of the table in the league standings, came out a resurgent and missed a glorious chance to level the tie when Demos Goumenos sent a penalty of his own crashing against the woodwork.
Undeterred, Nicos Andronicou’s clawed their way back into the tie when Cyprus under-21 international Stelios Demetriou made it 2-1 and the hosts sealed the contest in the third minute of extra-time through Christos Kountourettis.
In other Cup games, Alki, Omonia, Ethnikos Achnas and Anorthosis Famagusta all have one foot in the next round after victories in their first leg ties on the same day.
Alki were 2-0 winners over second division leaders AEP after goals from Sidnei and Kostadin Bashov while Zimbabwean striker Edward Mashinya and Eduardo Pincelli scored in each half to give Ethnikos a 2-0 lead over Aris Limassol.
Anorthosis Famagusta had stormed into a 2-0 lead against 2008 Cup winners APOP Kinyras/Peyias after goals from Marko Andic and Jan Rezek but the second division Paphos club equalised in the second half through Ricardo Catchana and Constantinos Constantinou.
The game looked to be heading towards a draw until Ricardo Laborde struck for Anorthosis 20 minutes from time as the refugee club prepare to take on APOP at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium with a one-goal advantage.
Cup holders Omonia will also go into their second leg clash against Stephen Constantine’s Nea Salamina in confident mood after a 2-0 win in Nicosia courtesy of goals from Carlos Garcia (own goal) and Bruno Aguiar.