Nea Salamina edged past Enosis 1-0 in a club friendly on Friday evening. The result gives the visitors their first win in what looks like a busy pre-season schedule. By then, both sides had already played several matches and were using this fixture to test options rather than chase points.
Enosis have been finding it hard to string results together lately. Their last five games read 0-0, 1-3, 0-2, 1-2 and 1-2 — one win, one draw, three defeats. To be fair, the fixtures have been against decent opposition, but the pattern of conceding second-half goals worries you.
Nea Salamina's form has been more encouraging. They drew with Nieciecza, beat Radomiak 3-2, shared points with Korona II, then put four past Busko-Zdrój before that 4-1 win over ASIL Lyssi. The support of the fans could be called devoted, but that is an assessment, not a fact. What is a fact is that they have been scoring freely.
And here's the thing about friendlies — you watch them for different things. You see who is back in full training, what combinations work, whether the manager can raise the tempo when he needs to. This match did not decide anything in a table, but it told you something about momentum.
Enosis ended a barren spell was not going to happen here. They had not won since April, and this result keeps that run going. The old head settled them down — or they tried to — but Nea Salamina's confidence was too sharp to ignore.