JOVETIC DELIVERS OMONOIA WIN IN BERG RETURN

In an offseason littered with friendly losses, lost players and only one signing, Henning Berg’s official return to the Omonoia bench finally brought some good news in the form of a 1-0 win at home to Georgian side Torpedo Kutaisi, to open UEFA Conference League qualifiers. Stevan Jovetic’s goal and an easy clean sheet for Fabiano got the job done. Omonoia also faced this club last year, winning both legs, and it was more of that on this night. They will look to do the same next week in Georgia.

Omonoia hosted Torpedo Kutaisi at the Stadio GSP in Nicosia. Omonoia got to work quickly and Willy Semedo missed the target just seconds in. Mateo Maric had a go that was also off target. Semedo then put one on target, but it was stopped by Oto Goshadze.

Omonoia soon got the icebreaker they were looking for. Goshadze made a pass to Matej Simic who cleared the ball, but only as far as Giannis Masouras. Masouras quickly found Stevan Jovetic, and with a quick release, the veteran from Montenegro beat a surprised Goshadze to the low corner from outside the box, and Omonoia went up 1-0 in the 20^th minute.

Omonoia kept pressing, and Captain Ioannis Kousoulos had a shot blocked by Felipe Pires, which came to Loizos Loizou, and his attempt was saved by Goshadze. Omonoia settled for a 1-0 halftime advantage.

Semedo opened the second half looking for more and had a go, but Goshadze parried it aside for a corner. Bjorn Johnsen finally gave the visitors a shot on net, but Fabiano was able to turn it aside. Loizou forced Goshadze to a save at the other end. Alpha Diounkou entered the match and also tested Goshadze, but once again, the keeper kept his side in it. Omonoia otherwise kept the visitors at bay, and settled for the 1-0 win.

Omonoia(Henning Berg): 40. Fabiano(GK), 21. Giannis Masouras(’64 2. Alpha Diounkou), 5. Senou Coulibaly, 30. Nikolas Panayiotou, 3. Fotis Kitsos, 31. Ioannis Kousoulos(Captain)(’80 44. Novica Erakovic), 14. Mateo Maric, 7. Willy Semedo, 11. Ewandro Costa, 75. Loizos Loizou(’80 19. Mikael Ingebrigtsen), 8. Stevan Jovetic(’60 9. Mariusz Stepinski)

Torpedo Kutaisi(Dirk Schuster): 1. Oto Goshadze(GK), 8. Mateo Itrak, 5. Tsotne Nadaraia(’72 3. Ricardo Araujo), 23. Matej Simic, 16. Sori Mane, 2. Warley, 14. Felipe Pires, 18. Irakli Bidzinashvili(’93 10. Giorgi Kokhreidze), 7. Vladimer Mamuchashvili(Captain), 9. Bjorn Johnsen(’87 , 20. Paata Gudushauri(’72 26. Aleko Basiladze)

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC