Cyprus BXL FC beat Slovenia 4-2 and secure 6th playoff place

Cyprus BXL FC sealed an impressive 6^th-place position in the regular season of the BXL league last night, with a 4-2 victory over Slovenia. This is the best league position achieved in the history of the club. The Cypriots didn’t put in one of their best performances of the year, but they fully exploited the Slovenia's defensive weaknesses to clinch a victory which might prove important in the near future. With this they also managed to stay within range of 5^th place, pending their last game of the season on Sunday.

Cyprus didn’t start the game well last night, and lacked solidity both in attack and defence. It looked as if a wakeup call was necessary, and fortunately that came quite early, when Slovenia managed to steal a goal from a defensive error. 

The prospect of another unsuccessful result jolted the Cypriots into action, who took the reins of the game and established themselves in midfield. A number of good chances to score were squandered before Noulis and Anastasiades combined, the latter sending a brilliant through-ball to Rossides, who in Torres-esque fashion comfortably sidestepped the keeper to equalise.

Minutes later Papoutsas danced around a swarm of Slovenian defenders on the left flank, sent a piercing low ball into the box, which, in the resulting melee, bounced off the back of a defender, and ended up in the back of the net. The half ended with 2-1 for Cyprus BXL FC, and it seemed as if the game was theirs for the taking.

The beginning of the second half, however, had more surprises in store, as Slovenia managed to equalise with a header from a free kick. The Cypriots were once again with their back against the wall, but their reaction to difficulty was again quite convincing.

Coach Nikolian threw fresh legs onto the pitch, Giangoudakis, Charalambous, Trikoutsis and Gogos coming on to tighten things up and give a strong push going forward. The first two in particular were excellent in their respective roles, helping the home side launch wave upon wave of attack and squeeze Slovenia into its own half. Anastasiades, a constant source of menace last night for the Slovenian defence, broke from the left, fired off a powerful shot which was saved by the keeper, only to be converted on the rebound by the prowling Papoutsas.

Slovenia had a goal disallowed for handball to the Cypriots' great relief, who were soon after awarded a penalty, buried characteristically into the botton left corner by Anastasiades.

A pleasing result for Cyprus, but a scoreline that could have been much more flattering had they been more concentrated on the pitch. They will definitely need to refocus their efforts, especially in mental terms, as they go into the critical playoff games of the season, if only because they've shown time and time again this year that they have every potential to aim high.

Man of the match for last night goes to Alex-Mike Anastasiades, who put in one of the best and most selfless performances of his season. He scored one, set up another two for his teammates, and helped create many more scoring opportunities. Special mention also goes to Alexoui Anastasiou for his solid performance in defence, but also his numerous torrential runs forward with the ball.

Starting XI: Gogakis, Karides, Antonakopoulos, Anastasiou, Noulis, Severis, Papoutsas, Voudouris, Georgakopoulos, Anastasiades, Rossides.

Next game for Cyprus BXL FC (and last before the playoffs) is against the Czech-Slovak team on Sunday April 29 at Diependal (kickoff 1900).