ROTATED OMONOIA GET RESULT IN LAUSANNE

Omonoia rested a lot of regulars, but still got a result, a 1-1 draw away to Swiss side Lausanne Sport in UEFA Conference League action in Lausanne. Angelos Neophytou even put Omonoia ahead, a cheap goal against five minutes later made it 1-1, but Omonoia’s backup goalkeeper Francis Uzoho redeemed himself thereafter, including a game saving penalty save for the Nigerian keeper.

Omonoia earn their second point of the competition, which has them in 29^th place, they need to be 24^th or better to advance. Omonoia’s next European match is at home to Dynamo Kyiv three weeks from now on US Thanksgiving, their next match is Sunday, a derby at home to archrivals APOEL.

Omonoia visited Lausanne Sport at the Stade de la Tuiliere in Lausanne. Omonoia rotated quite a few players out, resting a lot of usual starters. Francis Uzoho got the start in goal out of necessity however, as Fabiano was unavailable.

Despite all that, it looked like Omonoia had struck first. Alpha Diounkou made a nice pass to Tasos Chatzigiovanis who made a nifty cross to Novica Erakovic who smashed it past Karlo Letica. However, VAR came to the aid of the home side, saying the first pass to Chatzigiovanis was offside.

Lausanne Sport then wanted a penalty on a handball, but VAR confirmed that there was no handball. Gaoussou Diakite had a go from in tight, but the angle was thoroughly cut down and Uzoho made a routine save. Chatzigiovanis tried to sneak a shot through traffic, and he nearly did so, but only nearly as it flew wide. Then on a 2-on-1 rush, Erakovic did well to find Evangelos Andreou whose quick release was saved by Letica, the rebound was loose but cleared away before Mateo Maric, serving as Captain for this one, could get to it.

Omonoia’s red-shirted boys continued to push, and finally they had something to show for it. Diounkou put in an innocuous looking cross, but it found Angelos Neophytou with some room, and with a well-placed header beat Letica and put Omonoia up 1-0 in the 35^th minute.

Just five minutes later, Omonoia gave it back. Theo Bair let fly from way out, it did take a slight touch, but it was still a shock when somehow it eluded Uzoho, trickling through his legs and in, even Bair couldn’t believe it had gone in, and it was 1-1.

Both sides tried to steal a lead to take to halftime. Omonoia earned a corner that came to nothing. Uzoho to his credit made a dazzling save on Diakite at the other end, trying to make up for his mistake. The save did at least limit the halftime score to 1-1.

Diakite tried to open the second half with a bang, but similar to the end of the first half, Uzoho made another nice save. Stefan Simic had a chance to restore Omonoia’s lead, but his header went wide. Jamie Roche for some reason gave it a go from distance, but not only did it come nowhere near the net, but he seemed to tweak a muscle in the process.

Omonoia seemed to pull ahead as Diounkou centered it for Chatzigiovanis, whose strike overpowered Letica, but well in the middle of Omonoia’s celebrations, the Latvian referee, Edgars Malcevs decided that Diounkou had committed a foul in winning the ball before his pass to Chatzigiovanis. Another Omonoia goal called back, the score remained 1-1.

Bair almost got another lucky bounce as his shot was blocked by Nikolas Panayiotou, but it did not miss the net by much, even with Panayiotou’s block. Bizarrely, just a few minutes after entering the match, Ryan Mmaee seemed to pull his groin and had to be subbed out for Ewandro Costa. The real Omonoia Captain, Ioannis Kousoulos entered at halftime and he almost set up a late winner for Andreou, but Letica made the save.

Then came more drama involving Kousoulos, and despite the whistle not being given in real time, VAR urged the referee Malcevs to review it, and after he consulted the monitor changed his mind and awarded Lausanne Sport a penalty. The Lausanne Sport Captain, Olivier Custodio stepped up to take it and put it up the middle, but Uzoho was able to get his boot on it and kick it aside, preserving a point and a result for Omonoia, the final score in Lausanne was 1-1.

Lausanne Sport(Peter Zeidler): 25. Karlo Letica(GK), 2. Brandon Soppy, 14.Kevin Mouanga, 71. Karim Sow, 18. Morgan Poaty(’74 93. Sekou Fofana), 11. Nathan Butler-Oyedeji(’46 16. Nicky Beloko), 8. Jamie Roche, 10. Olivier Custodio(Captain), 27. Beyatt Lekoueiry(’46 7. Alban Ajdini), 9. Theo Bair, 70. Gaoussou Diakite

Omonoia(Henning Berg): 23. Francis Uzoho(GK), 24. Amine Khammas, 17. Saad Agouzoul(’46 30. Nikolas Panayiotou), 27. Stefan Simic, 2. Alpha Diounkou, 44. Novica Erakovic, 14. Mateo Maric(Captain)(’46 31. Ioannis Kousoulos), 20. Evangelos Andreou, 74. Panagiotis Andreou, 10. Tasos Chatzigiovanis(’73 7. Willy Semedo), 85. Angelos Neophytou(’73 19. Ryan Mmaee)(’80 11. Ewandro Costa)

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasNC