Apollon Limassol defender Christos Karipidis declared his side deserved to go through after the Cyprus Coca-Cola Cup holders kept the defence of their title intact with a thrilling 1-0 victory over Omonia on Wednesday.
Christakis Christoforou’s Apollon had gone into Wednesday’s contest 2-1 down on aggregate and appeared to be heading out of the competition at the quarterfinal stage until Bertrand Robert’s late shot from distance finally broke the deadlock and to the delight of the home supporters at the Tsirio Stadium .
Apollon, who last season defeated neighbours AEL 2-1 in the local Cup final, now look like the big favourites in the competition alongside APOEL to lift the trophy in May.
“We deserved to be in the next round and to be deservedly in the next round at the expense of a big club like Omonia makes this success even better,” commented the Greek defender who is also a former player of Omonia and APOEL.
“With the exception of the opening ten minutes when Omonia started brightly, we enjoyed the majority of possession and chances. We were very positive going forward and although we missed several chances to score, we kept our composure and were rewarded in the end.”
Omonia meanwhile were left with more heartbreak after a troubled season that has seen them not only suffer with mountainous debts but also with inconsistent performances on the pitch.
And if that wasn’t bad enough for the Nicosia club, caretaker manager Nehad Starovlach saw his side’s chances diminish even more when influential fullback Joao Paulo limped off at halftime moments after playmaker Nuno Assis was also forced off with injury. Hours before the game, Starovlach had also lost another centre back, Sofyane Cherfa, to injury leaving the visitors with even harder task in Limassol.
Apollon grew in confidence and stature as Omonia continued to struggle especially at the back and after Roberto somehow managed to find the post instead of the net, Camel Meriem played a short free-kick into the path of fellow Frenchman Robert who beat goalkeeper Jose Moreira with a rasping effort eight minutes from time.
Apollon substitute Daniel Haber should have made it 2-0 moments later when he struck the woodwork with Moriera stranded and the miss could have proved costly had the Apollon defender not scrambled Giorgos Efrem’s effort off the line in injury time.
The final set off wild celebrations on the Apollon bench in contrast to the Omonia bench with Starovlach reportedly taken to a nearby clinic after the game after complaining of feeling unwell. The caretaker coach had been spotted splashing water on his face throughout the game
Cyprus Weekly
