Pafos: The first round of the second phase for the first group of the Cyprus League by Stoiximan concluded on Sunday, with Pafos FC emerging as the favourite to win the title. Despite drawing their last game against AEK Larnaca, Juan Carlos Carcedo’s side maintained a four-point gap from second-placed Aris (72pts vs 68pts) and enter the second round with an advantage, also having three of their five remaining home games on the schedule.
According to Cyprus News Agency, AEK and Omonoia will fight for third place, with the Larnaca team also leading by four points (61pts vs 57pts), while APOEL and Apollon have fallen behind the league’s top four. In the matches that took place on Sunday, Omonoia and APOEL drew 1-1 at GSP Stadium. APOEL scored first in the 64th minute with El Arabi, but Omonoia responded two minutes later with Erakovic.
In the Limassol derby at the Alphamega Stadium, Aris managed to beat Apollon 2-1. Apollon took the lead in the 31st minute with Duodu, but the hosts reacted immediately, equalising with Gomis and completing the turnaround in the 56th minute with Kokorin. Finally, AEK Larnaca and Pafos FC shared a point each after a 2-2 draw. Pafos took the lead in the first half of the match with two goals from Tankovic (24′) and ‚¬Å¡¬€¦¡¬€š¬¦¡¬€š¬…¡¬¦¡¬€š¬…¡¬‚¬¦¡¬¦¡¬¦ unjic (41′), but the Larnaca side reacted with a goal by Candalapierda late in the first half and drew with Rodin on 58′.
Round 6 of the second phase for Group A continues on Tuesday, April 22, with Pafos FC vs Apollon Limassol, AEK Larnaca vs Omonoia Nicosia and APOEL vs Aris Limassol, all starting at 7 p.m. For the second group, the completion of the first round brought Nea Salamina one step closer to relegation, as their 1-3 loss to AEL left them on 22 points, six points behind Karmiotissa and ENP, who will fight for the last place to remain in the league, along with Omonoia Aradippou, who have one point more (29pts), while Omonoia 29M remained in last place with 14 points.
Anorthosis, AEL and Ethnikos Achna are outside the danger zone, with the latter two tied at second place with 36 points, ten points behind first-placed Anorthosis (46pts). The schedule of the 5th round of the second group includes the games Karmiotissa – Omonoia 29M, Omonoia Aradippou – Ethnikos Achna, AEL – Anorthosis and ENP – Nea Salamina.