Cyprus 2 Georgia 1:CYPRUS climbed off the bottom of Group Eight with a hard-fought 2-1 home win over Georgia in their World Cup qualifier on Saturday.
Their veteran player Michael Konstantinou opened the scoring in the 33rd minute after taking a through ball from Chrysostomos Michail to shoot low into the Georgian net.
Dimitris Christofi, making in his seventh appearance for the national side, increased the lead in the 56th minute with a long range shot.
Georgia kept the game alaive when they pulled one back with a penalty in the 71st minute from Levan Kobiashvili, awarded after Beka Gotsiridze was tripped by Michail.
Cyprus have four points after four matches, while Georgia are now bottom of the group with two points from six games.
CYPRUS: Georgallides, Christou, Garpozis, Charalambous (Yiasemakis 90), Elia, Constantinou, Michael, Satsias (Avraam 82), Alexandrou, Aloneftis (Panagi 69), Christofi. Subs not used: Avgousti, Okkarides, Marangos, Pavlou. Booked: Satsias, Charalambous.
GEORGIA: Lomaia, Lobjanidze, Khizanishvili, Kvakhadze, Shashiashvili, Odikadze, Razamadze, Kobiashvili, Gotsiridze, Mchedlidze (Siradze 28), Iashvili. Subs not used: Mamaladze, Salukvadze, Kvirkvelia, Kashia, Khmaladze, Merebashvilli. Booked: Lobjanidze, Gotsiridze, Khizanishvili, Shashiashvili.
Referee: Fredy Fautrel (Basse-Normandie).
