First Division
Apoel 2 Maronites 1
It was an emotional day at Bullsmoor Lane, Enfield where newly promoted Maronites due to the recent tragic death of their player Michael Tzouvanni were playing their first game of the season. There was a one minute silence before the game. Maronites surprised me by putting in a very powerful performance.
The current first Division leaders Apoel were two nil up within ten minutes with both goals coming from Lawrence Hamil. Maronites were back to their usual selves playing to the final whistle and created a few good chances and got a late goal through Dino Costa.
This win for Apoel keeps them in top position four points ahead of Second placed Aradippou London.
New Salamis 3 Aradippou Enosis London 1
On a sunny day at Broxbourne FC Aradippou London battled hard against last year’s Champions New Salamis.
The Red’s broke the deadlock just before half time with an own goal after an Aradippou player deflected the ball into his own goal from a shot from the New Salamis striker Deniz. New Salamis increased their lead in the second half with a shot just inside the box hitting the back of the net from Richard Georgiou.
Aradippou reduced the score to 2-1 with a well taken goal by their star striker Danny Vearer. New Salamis had the final say with a third goal from their own George Gregoriou to keep the reds in touch with the League leaders.
There was a fracas with ten minutes to go resulting in two New Salamis players and one from Aradippou getting sent off.
Brotherhood 3 Cetinkaya Cinar 5
The most exciting game of the day a goal feast not to be forgotten. Eight goals in all. It took Cinar 6 minutes to get off the mark, as a Marcus Samuals low cross into the Brotherhood box was met by Evren Altinok for 0-1.
Brotherhood equalised in the 24th minute with a Aaron Kennedy penalty, 1-1. The game was very evenly contested, but Cinar took the lead once again, when a speculative cross from Abdeslam El-Habassi managed to deceive the Brotherhood goalkeeper for 1-2. Brotherhood scored 4 minutes before half-time when Theo Ohene got away from the Cinar defenders and neatly put it away for 2-2.
Cinar upped the tempo in the second half and in the 48th minute a Mete Redif cross found Evren Altinok whose shot made it 2-3.
Despite Cinars pressure and hitting the bar, it was Brotherhood who scored, as Chrissy Antoni got behind the Cinar defenders and made it 3-3.
A minute later sub Leon put a through a pass to Marcus Samuals who hit a great low shot past the Brotherood keeper, 3-4. Cinar now with all their determination to get another, paid off in the last minute when Volkan Altinok knocked the ball to Marcus Samuals who coolly netted for his brace and Cinars 5th.
Second Division
Asha 3 Arachne 1
Newly formed team Asha are still holding their own at the top of the second division after a very good win over promotion rivals Arachne. Franchi scored the first goal for Asha when a wonderful long pass from Angelos to Petro who squared it for Franchi to finish.
Mem scored the second with a long range shot and George Syrdatiodis scored the third after Hohnny Christofi put pressure on an Arachne player to win the ball and it through for George to score.
Leo scored for Arachne in the last twenty minutes to make it 3-1 to Asha.
Cyprus Youth (KLN) 3 Pendayia 1
What a great job the Committee and managers at Cyprus Youth have done they are getting stronger day by day. Whereas Pendayia must improve on their goal scoring prowess they have only scored three goals all season.
Pendayia got off to a good start and had a couple of good chances but fell behind in the 23rd minute when a set piece saw Rio Brian-Edwards rise above everybody else to powerfully head home the first goal.
In the 53rd minute we had by far the best goal of the game with the ball starting with Reis at left back who worked the ball forward with some one touch passing with Andreas Kouppas, who then made a beautiful diagonal pass for Jamie Constantinou to use his strength and pace to go past 2 players and whip in a dangerous cross which Chris Papacosta drilled home on a half volley with his left foot into the bottom corner. In the 80th minute Jermelle striked well just inside the penalty box which the Pendayia keeper saved, but Chris Papacosta was there to tap in the rebound from close range.
In the dying minutes Pendayia scored from the penalty spot with a well taken penalty from Nicos Nicou.
Livadia 5 Pantel 2
Livadia are chasing hard for a promotion spot and are now in third place. They started bad with Pantel who scored after ten minutes with a goal from James Alexandrou .
Livadia equalised soon after with a goal from Elia Katsouloudi. However Pantel went ahead again at the half hour point with a shot from outside the area from Antonis Aristides.
Livadia worked hard and fought back when Adem Ali scored with a 25 yard shot. Half time 2-2.
The second half Livadia really pressed on and got a third again from Elia Katsoulidi.
Livadia then scored again with the fourth goal coming from Matthew Demetriades to make it 4-2. Pantel then had a couple of chances but failed to take advantage.
In the last few minutes Livadia were awarded a penalty after a Pantel defender handballed and Adem Ali scored from the penalty to make it 5-2.
Achna 0 Komi Kebir 2
Komi Kebir had a comfortable win over Achna to lift themselves into third place in the second division. Both goals came in the first half with the first being a penalty scored by Reyna Seyho in the 20th minute and Andreas Economides scored in the 35th minute with a goal from Andreas Economides.
This result leaves Achna still chasing for their first win of the season.
Anorthosis 4 Omonia 0
A surprise win for Anorthosis their first win of the season over revitalised Omonia and has got them back into a confident buoyant move and I can see them now going on a winning run.
Anorthosis goals came from Alexander Birri 30th minute, Danny Coolridge, 42nd minute and two goals from ex Panthea player Fotis Christodoulou in the 75th and 80th minutes.
LFA Cup
Second Round
Tripimeni 3 Hendon Utd 1
Last year’s LFA Cup finalists Tripimeni did well in their first match in the LFA Cup beating Hendon Utd 3-1 with their goals coming from Ricky Louka, Charles Kanaris and Jason Perdikos.
Clapham Rovers 0 Rizokarpasso 2
A convincing win for Rizokarpasso beating Clapham 2-0 with both their goals coming from Luke Croll.