Apollon Limassol secured a late 3-2 win over Danish opponents Midtjylland on Thursday night in Larnaca in the Europa League first leg playoff meeting but the news was not so good for AEK Larnaca who slipped to a 3-1 defeat at Viktoria Plzen.

Sofronis Avgoustis’ side will travel to Denmark for the second leg next week to protect their lead after being twice equalised by the visitors at the AEK Arena.

Chambos Kyriakou had put Apollon ahead with a decent strike from outside the area before Alexander Sorloth equalised shortly afterwards after being left unmarked in the area to head home.

Jander restored order for the Limassol club with a powerful strike from close range but the Danes again level proceedings when some more slack defending allowed Sorloth to race home on goal and equalise again.

The game looked to end in a draw until substitute Ioannis Pittas drove home the winner in stoppage time.

AEK had gotten off to the perfect start in the Czech Republic when Acoran scored from close range to give Imanol Idiakez’s side the lead at Viktoria Plzen.But the Cypriot side was punished for two massive misses from Ivan Trickovski as the hosts regained the lead with goals from Marek Bakos and Daniel Kolar before halftime.

Bakos added a late third from the penalty spot following a handball in the area from Vincent Laban.

The second leg will take place at the AEK Arena in Larnaca next week.