OMONOIA DROP HEARTBREAKER IN KLAGENFURT

All is not lost for Omonoia, but they will have work to do in next week’s return leg, after a controversial 2-1 loss away to Austrian side Wolfsberger in Klagenfurt. Omonoia drew first blood through Senou Coulibaly, but some poor defending and some tight decisions that went against them saw them squander their early advantage. Nonetheless, given that Omonoia carried the play in the second half, Omonoia will see plenty of reasons to maintain hope and their belief that qualification can still be achieved next week in Nicosia.

Omonoia visited Wolfsberger at the Worthersee Stadion in Klagenfiurt. The hosts applied some early pressure, but the first chance fell to Omonoia, and Willy Semedo had a free header, but failed to connect with the cross. After a yellow card to Fotis Kitsos, Wolfsberger had a free kick from the side and Alessandro Schopf was unmarked, but the defensive lapse went unpunished as he put it over the net.

Against the run of play, Omonoia struck first, Ewandro Costa faked a cross and then instead passed for Carel Eiting, who crossed seemingly too far wide, but Senou Coulibaly got his head on it, it hit the inside of the post, and landed just over the goal line, the goal was confirmed, and Omonoia were up 1-0 in the 15^th minute.

Wolfsberger were able to strike back on the half hour mark, Schopf put the ball on goal, Fabiano made the save, but the ball remained in play, Thierno Ballo found Chibuike Nwaiwu, who despite being well-marked got a shot off that snuck through a maze of bodies and past Fabiano to make it 1-1.

It looked like the hosts would go up 2-1 through Ballo, but a late arriving offside flag spared Omonoia, then later Ballo put another one on net, but Fabiano made a routine save. Kitsos slipped up allowing Schopf to get the ball in space, but Kitsos recovered and slid out to block the shot, and the score remained at 1-1 at halftime.

Omonoia opened the second half with a good chance, Giannis Masouras put in a nice cross for the red-hot Stevan Jovetic, but against his recent form, Jovetic put it over the net. After a scuffle outside the Wolfsberger box, Loizos Loizou emerged with the ball and got it to Jovetic, who struggled to find a lane to shoot, and when he finally did, he tried to sneak it under Nikolas Polster, but Polster was just able to get his right arm on it and keep it out. Jovetic then let another one go by the wayside as he was turned aside by Polster, and the rebound was just out of the reach of Ewandro Costa.

It seemed Omonoia would get a penalty as Loizou found himself alone with Nicolas Wimmer, and with the ball gone, Wimmer threw himself into Loizou. Protests from the Omonoia bench only produced a yellow card for the Omonoia manager, Henning Berg. At the other hand, Schopf laid off for Angelo Gattermeyer, but Giannis Masouras got in front of it to block it.

Omonoia seemed to have a late winner, and it could have been for Tasos Chatzigiovanis in his debut as he put a rebound past Polster, but the offside flag went against Omonoia this time.

More controversy saw Wolfsberger go in front. Gattermeyer appeared to be offside, but play carried on, and eventually, as the entire Omonoia team shouted for offside, the ball found Dejan Zukic, who tucked the ball under Fabiano, 2-1 for the hosts in the 88^th minute, and that was the final score.

Wolfsberger(Dietmar Kuhbauer): 12. Nikolas Polster(GK), 22. Dominik Baumgartner(Captain), 27. Chibuike Mwaiwu, 37. Nicolas Wimmer, 2. Boris Matic(’81 Fabian Wohlmuth), 8. Simon Piesinger(’71 34. Emmanuel Agyemang), 18. Alessandro Schopf, 77. Rene Renner, 20. Dejan Zukic, 11. Thierno Ballo(’64 17. David Atanga), 32. Markus Pink(’64 7. Angelo Gattermeyer)

Omonoia(Henning Berg): 40. Fabiano(GK, Captain), 3. Fotis Kitsos, 30. Nikolas Panayiotou, 5. Senou Coulibaly, 21. Giannis Masouras, 6. Carel Eiting(’78 31. Ioannis Kousoulos), 14. Mateo Maric, 7. Willy Semedo(’78 10. Tasos Chatzigiovanis), 11. Ewandro Costa(’81 44. Novica Erakovic), 75. Loizos Loizou, 8. Stevan Jovetic(’78 85. Angelos Neophytou)

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC