OMONOIA DRAW BORAC, ADVANCE TO KNOCKOUTS

Omonoia got the job done in the end with a scoreless draw away to Borac Banja Luka in the Bosnian city of Banja Luka. The point and a good goal differential(even) see Omonoia finish 22nd in the UEFA Conference League’s inaugural League Phase, within the top 24 required to advance. In fact, three of the top 24 in this competition come from Cyprus, as Pafos FC and APOEL also made it through. This becomes Omonoia’s first time into the knockout round of a European competition.

Omonoia visited Borac Banja Luka at the Banja Luka Gradski Stadion in Banja Luka. After a somewhat tentative start, Borac had the first real opportunity, Sandi Ogrinec caught Fabiano off guard, and the Brazilian keeper was grateful to see it go wide. Andronikos Kakoullis had a go from distance, but Filip Manojlovic saw it all the way, and knocked it down. The tight defensive play persisted and the first half was scoreless.

Early in the second half, a wild sequence in front of the Omonoia goal. Stefan Savic looped in a routine cross, and Fabiano absolutely spilled it to Marko Vukcevic, and somehow Fabiano cleaned up his own mess and got his shoulder on the rebound, just enough to keep it out. Not long after, Djordhe Despotovic played a long ball to Enver Kulasin, who collided with Fabiano and emerged with the ball, and luck was on Omonoia’s side again and Kulasin missed the empty net, rushing his shot with Filip Helander closing in on him.

Then a Borac corner fell to Ogrinec, who volleyed it over the net. At the other end, Willy Semedo took a shot, Manojlovic made the save and the rebound came to Kakoullis, who somehow missed the net, also because he rushed his attempt. The match ended as it began, with no score.

Borac Banja Luka(Mladen Zizovic): 13. Filip Manojlovic(GK), 93. Marko Vukcevic(’73 20. Zoran Kvrzic), 2. Bart Meijers, 24. Jurich Carolina, 16. Sebastian Herrera, 15. Srdan Grahovac(Captain), 77. Stefan Savic(’88 5. Boban Nikolov), 98. Sandi Ogrinec, 27. Enver Kulasin(’82 11. Damir Hrelja), 22. David Cavic(’73 7. Nikola Sreckovic), 99. Djordje Despotovic

Omonoia(Giannis Anastasiou): 40. Fabiano(GK), 2. Alpha Diounkou(’90 17. Giannis Masouras), 5. Senou Coulibaly, 4. Filip Helander, 24. Amine Khammas, 31. Ioannis Kousoulos(Captain), 21. Veljko Simic, 76. Charalambos Charalambous(’64 80. Novica Erakovic), 7. Willy Semedo(’84 14. Mariusz Stepinski), 75. Loizos Loizou(’64 11. Ewandro Costa), 9. Andronikos Kakoullis(’84 99. Saidou Alioum)

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC