ANOTHER LATE WINNER SEES OMONOIA THROUGH

Omonoia with another strong finish win 2-1 away to Torpedo Kutaisi in the return leg of their 2^nd round UEFA Conference League qualifier. Mariusz Stepinski and Willy Semedo scored for Omonoia. Omonoia wins the overall aggregate 5-2, and they advance to the 3^rd round of qualifying where they will face Hungarian side Fehervar.

Omonoia were in the Georgian city of Kutaisi at Ramaz Shengelia Stadium, already in good position after last week’s 3-1 home win. Torpedo were looking to make up ground quickly and a cross came in for Bjorn Johnsen, but Fabiano was in perfect position and collected the header without issue. Then Felipe Pires found Eliton Junior in space, but he put it wide. At the other end, Mariusz Stepinski set up a chance for Novica Erakovic, but Filip Kljajic got just enough of it to keep it out. Kljajic then made a nice save to deny a strong free kick off the boot of Amine Khammas.

Omonoia didn’t wait much longer to open the scoring, Veljko Simic intercepted a pass, and played a good ball for Willy Semedo, who took it wide, and centered the ball, and it was Stepinski that got the touch and the opening goal in the 26^th minute to make it 1-0 for Omonoia. Semedo nearly doubled the advantage, but Mamadou Sakho laid out to block the shot with Kljajic out of position, and Omonoia settled for a 1-0 halftime lead.

Torpedo didn’t give up easily, though, less than two minutes into the second half, an Eliton Junior longball started a rush for Warley, who crossed in for Momo Yassane, who fired a bullet past Fabiano, to level the match.

That was as close as they would get, however, Omonoia refocused and continued to have the better of the play, Kljajic denied Semedo again, and then took care of a chance from Ewandro Costa.

Eventually, this would all pay off, as Andronikos Kakoullis played it wide for Alpha Diounkou, who put it back into the box for Kakoullis, who was taken down by Nika Sandokhadze before the ball could get there. A penalty was given, and in the 81^st minute, Semedo converted with a very nice finish to the top corner, even though Kljajic went the right way, and Omonoia would never look back. 2-1 win for the match, 5-2 on aggregate.

Torpedo Kutaisi(Stephen Kean): 31. Filip Kljajic(GK), 12. Mamadou Sakho, 16. Nika Sandokhadze, 5. Tsotne Nadaraia, 16. Nika Sandokhadze, 20. Eliton Junior, 7. Merab Gigauri(Captain)(’71 11. Jorginho), 27. Lasha Shergelashvili(’71 23. Tsotne Patsatsia), 14. Felipe Pires, 9. Bjorn Johnsen, 19. Momo Yansane

Omonoia(Valdas Dambrauskas): 40. Fabiano(GK, Captain), 17. Giannis Masouras(’23 2. Alpha Diounkou), 5. Senou Coulibaly, 30. Nikos Panayiotou(’86 4. Filip Helander), 24. Amine Khammas, 76. Charalambos Charalambous(’73 11. Ewandro Costa), 20. Mateo Maric, 80. Novica Erakovic(’86 31. Ioannis Kousoulos), 21. Veljko Simic, 14. Mariusz Stepinski(’73 9. Andronikos Kakoullis), 7. Willy Semedo

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC