- Match Day 19 of Cyprus football league was the day of the outsiders, since all the outsiders achieved great victories over the top five team of the standings. Olympiakos defeated Anorthosis in Makario Stadium, Ethnikos achieved a great win in GSP over Omonia and Paralimni defeated Apollon in Limassol and Nea Salamina lost at home to bottom of the table Doxa
Results of Match Day 19: Olympiakos-Anorthosis 2-1, AEK-APOEL 1-0, Omonia-Ethnikos 1-2, Apollon-Paralimni 0-1, Paphos-AEL 2-0, Nea Salama 0 Doxa 1.
Standings: Anorthosis 40, Omonia 38, APOEL 35, Apollon 32 (18 games), AEK 28, AEL 26, Nea Salamina 24, Olympiakos 20, Paphos 20 (18 games), Paralimni 18, Ethnikos 17, Doxa 11.
Anorthosis, Omonia and Apollon were beaten by teams facing the threat of relegation, Olympiakos, Ethnikos and Enosis respectively, while Apoel lost to 6th placed AEK in Larnaca and Nea Salamina lost to bottom of the table Doxa.
Olympiakos who already had beaten Apoel in recent weeks beat top of the table Anorthosis to ease their relegation worries they scored first through an own goal in the 41st minute then there was a late flurry in the last few minutes when Olympiakos increased their lead to 2-0 through Psaltis in the 89th minute and Duris scored in added time to make it 2-1 to Olympiakos final score.
Apoel lost to AEK in Larnaca 1-0 with their lone goal coming from Hevel in the 32nd minute to put a dent in Apoel’s Championship chances.
On Sunday Omonia had the chance to regain the top spot with Anorthosis losing earlier in the weekend and being at home Omonia would have been full of confidence
but second from bottom Ethnikos Achnas proved a strong team and took the lead in the 59th minute through Christofi when he shot past the oncoming new loan signing from Nottingham Forest Omonia goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon in the 59th minute but in a crazy five minutes in the 75th minute saw Omonia equalise with a Matt Derbyshire penalty and then in the 80th minute Ethnikos regained their lead with a Markoski penalty and an amazing win for Ethnikos Achnas.
Now it was Apollon’s turn and they were up for a win against third from bottom Enosis Neon Paralimni and playing at home and with all the top teams losing they were confident of a win and to put them back in the running for the championship with a win for the Limassol side would have put them five points off the top with a game in hand. But another shock insured when Varela scored for Paralimni in the 72nd minute to give them a 1-0 win and ease their relegation worries.
In the final weekend game, Pafos Fc defeated AEL 2-0 thanks to goals from Denis Rakels and Va in the 44th and 75th minutes respectively and in Monday’s game another shock when Nea Saloamina playing at home in Larnaca lost to the bottom team Doxa 1-0 who scored their winning goal in the 74th minute through Calo to give them their second win of the season.
