AEK Larnaca continued their blistering start to the Cypriot season after picking their eighth victory at AEZ on Sunday to preserve their 100% record in the title race.

Imanol Idiakez’s side had raced into a two-goal lead after goals from Andre Alves and Ivan Trickovski in the opening 15 minutes before both players added one each after the interval.

Hopes of a revival were stirred when AEZ top scorer Constantinos Pangalos and Mohammed Sassi cut the lead back to 4-2 but AEK had the final word when Acoran pounced on one of many defensive errors to score the Larnaca club’s fifth minutes before the end.

In other game, AEL moved into second place – ahead of APOEL having played a game more – after a routine 3-0 win over Aris in the Limassol derby. Kevin Lafrance, Marco Soares and Ally Savane scored the goals for Pambos Christodoulou’s men.

The weekend was not so good for Omonia and Anorthosis Famagusta who both dropped points in their games against Nea Salamina and Ermis Aradippou respectively.

Omonia had taken the lead against Salamina after Matt Derbyshire’s goal 20 minutes from time but the celebrations were short-lived as Savvas Tsampouris’s wild effort from distance beat goalkeeper Costas Panagi.

Anorthosis had been leading Ermis by two goals after strikes from Esmael Goncalves (penalty) and Airam inside the opening 25 minutes before Ermis rallied back after halftime through goals from Miguel Alba (penalty) and an injury-time header from Dominiquie da Silva.

The defeat saw angry Anorthosis fans assembled out the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium to protest.

In other games, Apollon thrashed Anagennises Derynia to give under fire boss Pedro Emanuel some breathing space while Karmiotissa’s dream debut in the top division continued as they beat struggling Doxa Katokopia 1-0 in Larnaca.

In the Monday night kickoff, champions APOEL will be looking to move back into second place when they take on Ethnikos Achnas.