There was a few surprises in the first Sunday of the season in the KOPA League plus there was loads of movement of players over the summer holidays.
First Division
New Salamis 7 Brotherhood 0
The biggest shock of the day was Brotherhood who shared second spot with Panthea last season losing to the Champions New Salamis 7- 0. I expected a closer game , it seems the new manager of Brotherhood Kokos Stavrou has a lot of work to do this season.
New Salamis were 4 – 0 up half time , goal scorers of the game were Kyri Portou 2 , Leon Mckenzie 2, Steve Valentia, Richard Georgiou and Mario Georgiou.
Dynamo 4 Rizokarpasso 1
Surprise win for Dynamo against Rizokarpasso who finished strongly last season as Divisional Cup winners for Division 1.
The first two Dynamo goals were due to the Rizokarpasso keeper making costly errors.. First was from a corner from Anthony the second a throw in from Matthew. The third Dynamo goal came after the break with Anthony. Rizokarpasso then scored with a goal from Tom Boxer making it 3-1 before Kyri scored a 4th goal finishing the game with Dynamo worthy winners 4-1.
AEL 2 Cetinkaya Cinar 0
Newly promoted AEL had a tough game today versus Cetinkaya Cinar, the first half ended up on level terms. The second half looked liked it was going that way too because either team looked deadly in front of goal.
The deadlock was broken in the 75th minute when AEL’s Rakim Richards scored with a great header and in the 85th minute AEL increased their lead when George Michael scored from a free kick to give AEL a well deserved 2-0 win.
Panthea 1 Omonia 2
Newly promoted Omonia narrowly defeated last year’s League runners up Panthea.
Panthea began as the better team and took the lead in the 50th minute with a well taken free kick from Mark Doyle who really stood out in this game.
This seem to kick start Omonia who came back with a vengeance, really fighting back with great team spirit.. Omonia equalised in the 65th minute with a great individual goal from Zane who went past three players to score. The final and second goal for Omoniacame from a corner where in waiting and on hand in the penalty box was Peter Theori to tap the ball into the empty net.
Aradippou 1 Tripimeni 2
Tripimeni who have shortened their name by getting rid of the Aris in their name and just kept their Cyprus village name Tripimeni.
Newly promoted Aradippou gave Tripimeni a tough time . Alex Roussis gave Tripimeni the lead in the 38th minute with a well taken goal taking Tripimeni ahead 1-0 up into the break
After the break Aradippou were able to equalise with a well taken penalty by Izzett in the 38th minute. The winning goal came in the 70th minute after a great run and finishing in a goal from Karim Essiaghi for Tripimeni to give them a 2-1 away win.
Second Division
Maronites 4 Anorthosis 0
Another cracking game, Maronites were up against newly relegated Anorthosis.The first half Anorthosis were the better team and created lots of chances with no avail going into the break 0 – 0.
The second half was different after Elias of Maronites got sent off leaving the Maronites to play with 10 men this seem to spur the Maronites on with Matt Spyrou going on to score their first goal.
Dino Costa made it 2 – 0 before Ali scored two goals to make it 4- 0 final score and make Maronites worthy winners of their first league game of the season.
Pendayia 0 Achna 1
League newcomers Achna got off to a great start when they defeated relegated Pendayia 1-0 at Brimsdown stadium. Altough Pendayia had several good chances, in fact hitting the woodwork twice in the first half. Achna left it till the last ten minutes to score the decisive winning goal scored by Nicos Papadopoulos to give Achna a surprising 1-0 win.
LFA Junior Cup
First round
The KOPA teams did not do to well in the LFA Cup .Komi Kebir lost 4-0 to Wapping and Pantel lost to Danson Albion 5-2.
