Calvo late show breaks Cretan hearts

By: Peter Katsiris | December 6th, 2008

Aris left it late, but Toni Calvo’s strike in the first minute of stoppage time assured Aris of three points against OFI at the Pankritio Stadium. Both sides looked headed for a scoreless draw in Crete, but late drama and a bit of luck paved the way for Aris to grab a win at the death.

The stakes were high for OFI on Saturday, as a winless streak did little to help their relegation battle. It was time to end their winless drought, and seal their first win at home. Aris was in form, after two convincing results in as many weeks. Unfortunately for spectators on hand at the Pankritio Stadium, there was little action in the opening frame to keep fans optimistic of a breakthrough.

Both teams managed to secure enough possession to have the opportunity for a goal, but poor communication within the ranks of either side led to several interceptions at critical points of each attack.

Aris secured the first decent opportunity of the match, despite few waves of attack actually posing a threat. Diogo Siston provided great skill to make a vibrant run down the right flank, before forcing OFI ‘keeper Alexandros Kasmeridis into a sharp save with a well directed effort to the left corner.

OFI then took the initiative to challenge Aris goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis, but their initial effort was not accurate enough to threaten Sifakis’ goal as Zdravko Popovic’s free-kick was wasted by Konstantinos Stavrakakis misdirected header.

Sifakis was forced to produce a save when Ioannis Taralidis fired a shot from outside the box, but the shot lacked enough conviction to beat the former Olympiacos keeper.

OFI attacked again on the half hour mark, but once again Popovic’s set piece was of no worry for Sifakis, but this time the culprit was the Croatian himself – firing his free-kick high over the crossbar.

A sloppy defensive tilt began to unravel just before the half, as poor positioning and careless challenges allowed for several cautions ahead of the halftime whistle.

Little changed in the second half, but the wait for the second half’s first decent opportunity was not as lengthy as its predecessor. With OFI relying more and more on set piece opportunities, Popovic had a prime opportunity to break the stalemate on fifty-six minutes. Instead, Sifakis pushed the Croatians effort out for a corner and the chance for a goal was diminished.

It had been a while since Aris graced OFI’s defensive third, but on fifty-eight minutes the Thessaloniki-based club narrowly missed out on grabbing the lead. Javito provided an aerial pass from the right wing, but an alert Stavrakakis assured the ball wouldn’t fall for a lurking Mario Regueiro.

OFI grabbed the next chance of the match, with Taralidis drilling another long-distance effort towards the Aris goal. Firing a volleyed-effort towards Sifakis, the former Olympiacos player was denied a goal thanks to a stretched Sifakis.

Aris continued to produce runs into OFI’s end of the pitch, but several offside call failed to trigger anything worthwhile – ultimately turning the match into a very slow paced encounter.

Wasteful offensive opportunities continued for the remaining period of time, with Dame N’Doye just one example of OFI’s poor finishing.

With the match heading towards the final whistle, it appeared little would change for two sides struggling to create meaningful opportunities. With nearly a minute of stoppage time registered, Calvo led what looked to be Aris’ final endeavour into OFI territory. With some good fortune, the Spaniard managed to round his marker with the defender coughing up a turnover. From there, it looked like the ball was heading for a wide open Sergio Koke; however, suddenly the centering pass took a strange curve to beat a tricked Kasmeridis whilst sailing into the OFI goal.

It was a low-blow for OFI, who have now gone winless in their last four matches, and slip even further into the relegation zone. Their next trip won’t extend too far, as OFI locks horns with island rivals Ergotelis at the Pankritio Stadium.

For Aris, the win extends their undefeated streak to seven games with ‘O Theos tou Polemou’ climbing over Panathinaikos into fourth place ahead of the latter’s match with Skoda Xanthi. Next on the Aris agenda will be a much stiffer task with former manager Dusan Bajevic leading AEK into Thessaloniki.

OFI Crete 0-1 Aris FC

Calvo 90 + 1′

Yellow Cards:

OFI Crete – Issa 35′, Taralidis 42′, Roubakis 75′, Stavrakakis 85′.

Aris FC – Lembo 36′, Ronaldo 43′, Neto 45′, Javito 52′, Regueiro 81′.

OFI Crete (Ioannis Matzourakis): Kasmeridis, Barcauan, Issa, Stavrakakis, Kounenakis (83′ Dimoutsos), Roubakis, Taralidis, Simic, Popovic (60′ Gerber), N’ Doye, Herrera (76′ Kostovski).

Aris FC (Enrique Hernandez): Sifakis, Neto, Karambelas (73′ Wlodarczyk), Lembo, Ronaldo, Vitolo (61′ Calvo), Siston, Nebegleras, Javito, Regueiro, Koke.

Referee: Marios Lampropoulos

Venue: Pankritio Stadium, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.