Anorthosis Famagusta and APOEL peeled away in the title race on Wednesday after claiming victories while AEL’s draw with AEK means both sides have drifted further away from first place.
Anorthosis laid a second half siege on Ayia Napa as Ronny Levy’s side returned to winning ways with a 5-1 win while APOEL struggled against Ethnikos Achnas with new Israeli signing Dudu Biton getting the only goal in Nicosia.
Two penalties from Juliano Spadacio as well as further goals from Barak Itzhaki, Moshe Ohayon and Toni Calvo – all in the second half – preserved the league leaders’ three point gap at the top. Miguel Vargas had equalised for Ayia Napa but Anorthosis regained the lead minutes later.
Ivan Jovanovic’s APOEL now appear to be Anorthosis’ only serious challengers in the title race although they struggled to find an opening. Biton’s goal – his third in three games – brought relief to the APOEL bench who will next travel to Larnaca next weekend to take on third place AEK.
AEK missed out on the chance to stay close to the league leaders but things could have been worse for the Larnaca club in their thrilling 2-2 draw away to title holders AEL.
Dosa Junior had given AEL the lead in Limassol on six minutes but AEK hit back minutes later through Nassir Maachi. Orlando Sa put AEL ahead again in the 75th minute and Jorge Costa’s side looked to have done enough until Spanish winger Joan Tomas struck back in the third minute of time added on.
In other games on Wednesday, Doxa and Olympiakos played out a 1-1 draw in a game which saw Doxa take the lead through an offside goal while Enosis Neon Paralimniou’s encounter against Nea Salamina finished goalless.
Omonia’s win over Alki on Tuesday means that they have now climbed into the top four on goal difference above fifth place AEL while sixth place Apollon Limassol are two points behind AEL and Omonia.
First Division Championship 2012/2013 – |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Competition Day | |||||
|
|
|||||
| Tuesday, 26 February 2013 | |||||
| AEP PAPHOS | 0 | 1 | APOLLON LIMASSOL | ||
| ALKI LARNAKAS | 2 | 4 | OMONIA NICOSIA | ||
| Wednesday, 27 February 2013 | |||||
| AEL LIMASSOL | 2 | 2 | AEK LARNAKAS | ||
| ENOSIS NEON PARALIMNIOU FC | 0 | 0 | NEA SALAMIS FC | ||
| DOXA KATOKOPIA | 1 | 1 | OLYMPIAKOS NICOSIA | ||
| APOEL NICOSIA | 1 | 0 | ETHNIKOS ACHNAS | ||
| ANORTHOSIS FAMAGUSTA | 5 | 1 | AYIA NAPA | ||
 |
|||||
First Division Championship 2012/2013 |
|||||
|
|
|||||
| A | B | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ANORTHOSIS FAMAGUSTA | 22 | 57 | ||
| 2 | APOEL NICOSIA | 22 | 54 | ||
| 3 | AEK LARNAKAS | 22 | 48 | ||
| 4 | OMONIA NICOSIA | 22 | 41 | ||
| 5 | AEL LIMASSOL | 22 | 41 | ||
| 6 | APOLLON LIMASSOL | 22 | 39 | ||
| 7 | ENOSIS NEON PARALIMNIOU FC | 22 | 24 | ||
| 8 | DOXA KATOKOPIA | 22 | 24 | ||
| 9 | NEA SALAMIS FC | 22 | 20 | ||
| 10 | OLYMPIAKOS NICOSIA | 22 | 19 | ||
| 11 | ETHNIKOS ACHNAS | 22 | 17 | ||
| 12 | ALKI LARNAKAS | 22 | 15 | ||
| 13 | AYIA NAPA | 22 | 8 | ||
| 14 | AEP PAPHOS | 22 | 6 | ||
Cyprus Weekly
