APOP survive Paphos Cup scare

PAPHOS - Cup holders APOP Kinyras/Peyias suffered an early scare at neighbours AEP but rallied back late to earn themselves a place in the quarterfinals on Wednesday night.
Trailing 4-1 from the first leg in Peyia, Tassos Kyriacou’s AEP side got themselves off to a flyer when an own goal from Dejan Grabic and another from Kyriacos Chailis hurled them into a 2-0 halftime lead.
It should have been 3-0 but the linesman failed to spot that the ball had crossed the line with goalkeeper Michalis Fanis scrambling.
Chailis added a third early in the second period to erupt the home supporters and put his side through on aggregate but their hopes were dashed ten minutes later when Slovenian midfielder Luka Zinko beat Jane Nikoloski with a delicate curling shot from outside the area. Alain Liri’s deflected strike on 72 minutes put the tie beyond AEP who then needed to score three to go through but the hosts did managed to grab one – former APOP striker Bernardo Vasconcelos tapping into an open goal after some more questionable goalkeeping from Fanis.
In other games, Aris Limassol scraped past second division side AEK Larnaca with a 1-0 victory courtesy of a well-taken penalty by Adrian Mihalcea. Marios Constantinou’s side advancing after the first leg in Limassol ended 1-1.
Ermis Aradhippou suffered a 2-0 defeat away to Enosis Neon Paralimniou but still advanced after thrashing their Paralimni opponents 4-0 in the first leg. Marios Zanettou and Obadiah Tarumbwa got the goals in the first half.
In the only first leg encounter on Wednesday night, a late diving header from Doxa Katokopia defender Nuno Rodrigues earned his side a 1-1 draw at APEP Pitsilias who had taken a first half lead through Danish defender Peter Gravesen.

Cyprus Cup, Second Round

Second Legs:

AEK v Aris 0-1

(Mihalcea pen 77)

(Aris advance 1-0 on aggregate)

AEP v APOP 4-2

(Grabic o.g. 25, Chailis 45, 50, Vasconcelos 89 / Zinko 60, Liri 72)

(APOP advance 6-5 on aggregate)

Enosis v Ermis 2-0

(Zanettou 35, Tarumbwa 45)

(Ermis advance 4-2 on aggregate)

First leg:

APEP v Doxa 1-1

(Gravesen 45 / Rodrigues 85)