Despite their loss against APOEL last time out, Fiorentina started this round in the automatic qualification places and were expected to give Paphos a footballing lesson.
However, they were nearly stunned inside the first minute, as Muamer Tankovic shot from just outside the box after going on a solo run, only for Pietro Terracciano to make an excellent save.
Fiorentina rallied after that early scare, and Christian Kouame had a great chance to give La Viola the lead just before the quarter-hour mark but fired fractionally wide of the left-hand post.
Kouame refused to give up though, and was duly rewarded in the 38th minute - albeit in a somewhat fortuitous fashion. A slick move upfield allowed Dodo to race into the box on the overlap, and while he was too deep in Paphos’ box to try a shot, his cutback was well-improvised.
One double deflection later, Kouame had the ball right in front of him merely inches out, and he had the simplest of tasks in stabbing it over the line, giving Fiorentina their maiden first-half goal in the Conference League proper this term.
Pepe could have equalised from a free-kick just before half-time but his low shot went straight at Terracciano, ensuring that Fiorentina wouldn’t be complacent going into the second period.
La Viola continued to largely dictate the flow of play after the break and eventually doubled their lead.
Luck had a fair part to play once again, with a counter down the left flank seeing Riccardo Sottil try to centre for Kouame but David Goldar finished the job for him by deflecting the ball into his own net.
A Viola victory seemed assured now, but the three-quarter mark brought an unwelcome development for Raffaele Palladino’s men.
Desperate to atone for his earlier mistake, Goldar punted a long ball forward down the right flank to Bruno, who shimmied into a crossing position before centering for Jairo to cleverly backheel in off the far post to put Paphos back in the game.
However, their hopes of a point were soon dashed when a great cross from Michael Kayode found Lucas Martinez Quarta at the far post, and the Argentine headed across goal into the far corner to restore Fiorentina’s two-goal cushion.
Now it was all about simple game management for Fiorentina, but a simple mistake allowed Paphos back in it once more.
In what should have been a routine clearance, Dodo passed to Terracciano, but he took a touch too many and gifted Jaja the easiest goal of his career, with the Brazilian simply rolling the ball into the net after cleanly challenging La Viola’s distraught stopper.
Fiorentina had to ride out a nervy last few minutes but held on to win and maintain their place in the league phase’s top-eight. Meanwhile, Paphos’ chances of finishing in that hallowed region now hang by a thread, with victory against Celje in a fortnight’s time surely now of absolute importance.
See all the match stats here.
See all the Conference League results here.