Title hopefuls Apollon Limassol missed out on the chance to surge ahead in the championship race after being held to a 2-2 draw by relegation battlers Othellos Athienou at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium in Larnaca on Monday night.
Othellos had also held Apollon to a 1-1 draw when the two sides met last Wednesday in the first leg of the Cyprus Coca-Cola Cup second round.
Monday night’s result did see Ioan Andone’s side move one point ahead of closest rivals APOEL who suffered their second defeat of the season at the hands of AEL on the weekend but officials of the Limassol club saw the draw as a chance to go three points in front.
The final result also drew protests from Limassol club who were angry that referee Thomas Mouskos sent of defender Angelis Angeli and handed Othellos a penalty early on in the game. Abraham Gneki-Guie put Apollon on their way when he latched onto a Fotis Papoulis pass and beat goalkeeper Roin Kvaskhvadze with a neat strike.
The controversial penalty decision followed ten minutes later after Angeli brought down Thiago Santos in the area and was sent off for his trouble. Georgian midfielder Levan Khmaladze obliged from the penalty spot. French forward Gneki-Guie put Apollon back in front moments later after firing in the rebound when Papoulis’ strike hit the post.
Othellos leveled the proceedings again on 52 minutes when Nicos Efthymiou beat goalkeeper Bruno Vale with a clever curling effort from outside the area. Both sides went on to miss chances to score the winner. The draw was enough to nudge Apollon in front in the league title race after APOEL went down 2-1 to AEL.
Cyprus Weekly