AEK Larnaca made it two wins from two with a 4-1 victory over Nea Salamina at the Ammochostos Stadium on Saturday. The result lifts the visitors to the top of the First Division table, while the hosts remain in ninth place after dropping all three points. By then, the contrast between the two sides was already visible in the way they approached the game.
D. Ivanovic gave AEK the lead in the nineteenth minute before doubling his tally just before the break. Nea Salamina responded through S. Grandsir in stoppage time, but it was too little, too late. Things came to a head when Y. Chacon restored the two-goal cushion in the fifty-ninth minute, and R. Bajic added a fourth shortly after.
The home side made three changes around the interval — Aldair, V. Lampropoulos, and E. Saborit all came on — but the pattern of the game had already been set. Nea Salamina's substitutions felt reactive rather than proactive, and the visitors' control never wavered. To be fair, AEK were sharper in the final third from the opening whistle.
Two yellow cards were shown during the contest, one to B. Konate and another to Miramon, but neither disrupted the flow of play. AEK's bench remained largely untouched until the final quarter, while Nea Salamina had to use every option they had available. The substitutions told their own story about who was managing the game.
AEK Larnaca now sit six points clear at the summit after two matches, while Nea Salamina have managed only one point from their opening two fixtures. The visitors have won both games, though their first match ended 0-1 against Omonia Aradippou. The hosts have drawn once and lost once, with their most recent result a 3-3 draw against Olympiacos.
