OMONOIA EARN VITAL WIN OVER RAPID WIEN

Omonoia earn a much needed win in UEFA Conference League action, 3-1 at home to Austrian side Rapid Wien. A strong second half did the job with goals from Andronikos Kakoullis, Willy Semedo and Saidou Alioum. Omonoia with the win move out of the elimination zone, into 21st place in the overall table, the top 24 teams advancing of the overall field of 36. Omonoia’s league phase finale will come next week away to Borac Banja Luka in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Omonoia hosted Rapid Wien at the Stadio GSP in Nicosia. With Fabiano available, but not 100% due to a muscle strain, Francis Uzoho started in goal for Omonoia, and he was pressed into action right away, making a great early save off the head of Louis Schaub. The Rapid Captain, Matthias Seidl gave Uzoho a scare, but the effort buzzed the crossbar.

Omonoia had their first chance from a nice individual effort by Veljko Simic, dribbling himself into space, eventually finding Alpha Diounkou, but his shot was right at Niklas Hedl. Diounkou started to feel it after that, and had a go from outside the box, but it went wide. A series of bounces led to Nikolaus Wurmbrand being alone with Uzoho, but Wurmbrand couldn’t settle it down, and put the ball over the net. The first half ended with no score.

Rapid made a pair of halftime changes, and one only needed a few seconds to put a shot on goal, but Jakob Scholler’s strike lacked power and was easily saved by Uzoho.

Somewhat unexpected, Omonoia struck first. Andronikos Kakoullis tracked down a loose ball near the sideline, outworked Bendeguz Bolla, and fired an absolute bullet past Hedl, and Omonoia went up 1-0 in the 52nd minute.

Rapid tried to respond, and Jonas Auer forced Uzoho to a save for a corner. Loizos Loizou tried to double Omonoia’s advantage, but skied it well over the net. Dion Beljo uncorked one from in close, but Filip Helander did well to block that attempt.

Rapid did finally level the match, Auer spotted Beljo in the box, Beljo got away from Senou Coulibaly and did well to place a shot past Uzoho who had little chance of stopping it, and ten minutes after Omonoia scored, it was 1-1.

Willy Semedo entered the match and set up a chance for Charalambos Charalambous, but it was from far out, and Hedl saved it easily.

Semedo had a bigger impact a minute later, Kakoullis made a nice drop pass to him, and he overpowered Hedl who couldn’t believe it had gone in, but it did and Omonoia were back ahead, 2-1 in the 66th minute.

Rapid exhausted all their substitutions and pressed for another equalizer. Isak Jansson had a go that Uzoho awkwardly, but effectively knocked down. Omonoia went in for the kill as Saidou Alioum put a powerful header on net, but Hedl made the crucial save to keep Rapid in it. Danger for Omonoia as a ball found Noah Bischof in space, but he stumbled before he could get a shot off.

The kill shot did come on the final play of the match. Rapid had a free kick, and Hedl vacated the net, but Helander intercepted the pass, and with no goalkeeper, Alioum just had to win the race and he took it coast to coast to give Omonoia a third, 3-1 for the final score.

Omonoia(Giannis Anastasiou): 23. Francis Uzoho(GK), 2. Alpha Diounkou, 5. Senou Coulibaly, 4. Filip Helander, 24. Amine Khammas, 76. Charalambos Charalambous(’76 99. Saidou Alioum), 20. Mateo Maric, 31. Ioannis Kousoulos(Captain)(’76 80. Novica Erakovic), 21. Veljko Simic(’90 17. Giannis Masouras), 75. Loizos Loizou(’64 7. Willy Semedo), 9. Andronikos Kakoullis(’77 85. Angelos Neophytou)

Rapid Wien(Robert Klauss): 45. Niklas Hedl(GK), 23. Jonas Auer, 6. Serge-Philippe Raux-Yao, 55. Nenad Cvetkovic(’46 4. Jakob Scholler), 77. Bendeguz Bolla, 17. Mamadou Sangare(’83 24. Dennis Kaygin), 8. Lukas Grgic, 21. Louis Schaub(’77 22. Noah Bischof), 48. Nikolaus Wurmbrand(’67 9. Guido Burgstaller), 18. Matthias Seidl(Captain)(’46 21. Isak Jansson), 7. Dion Beljo

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC