Thrasyvoulos edged by Aris

By: Peter Katsiris | November 11th, 2008

Aris left it late but managed to slip past Thrasyvoulos with a 2-1 win at the Fyli Stadium on Sunday. The hosts grabbed an early second-half goal, but a resilient Aris pegged back two goals of their own in the final frame to seal the win.

Few efforts in the opening half posed threats to either keeper, but Thrasyvoulos looked the more promising of the two sides as Michalis Sifakis was forced into a string of saves. With the former-Olympiacos back stopper keeping Thrasyvoulos at bay, Aris did little to counter on their opponents’ scoring woes.

Everything changed in the second half as Thrasyvoulos grabbed an early goal to stun their guests. Efstathios Rokas received a pinpoint cross from Giannis Chloros, and the latter completed the play by volleying the pass past Sifakis.

Although the goal was a stunning strike, Rokas’ next contribution to the game tarnished his classy finish. After a hard foul on Neto, Rokas picked up his second booking of the match and the 27-year old was dismissed after just fifty-five minutes.

Despite holding the lead, the match began to swing against Thrasyvoulos as Aris looked to take advantage of the numbers game. Surely enough, Enrique Hernandez’s men took the initiative just eleven minutes after Rokas’ dismissal. Neto’s free kick appeared to be blocked by the hand of Ventoura, and the referee was quick to award ‘O Theos tou Polemou’ a penalty. Sergio Koke made no mistake, as the Spaniard beat Nikos Kostakis with a shot to the right corner.

After taking such little time to level the match, Aris focused on taking the lead for the rest of the match. With Thrasyvoulos content to defend, apart from few treks into the Aris’ territory, it was easy for the visitors to endure long stays in Thrasyvoulos’ end.

At last Aris grabbed the go-ahead goal as Neto’s corner kick was finally slotted home by Mario Regueiro. The Brazilian’s corner was initially met by Koke, but a final touch from Regueiro was needed to edge the Thessaloniki-based side ahead.

Thrasyvoulos 1-2 Aris
Rokas 48′ – Koke (pen.) 66′, Regueiro 84′

Yellow Cards:
Thrasyvoulos – Rokas 14′ (55)’, Mavrogenidis 61′, Ventoura 65′.
Aris – Sifakis 33′, Regueiro.

Red Cards:
Thrasyvoulos – Rokas 55′ (sent off on double booking).
Aris – none.

Thrasyvoulos (Sakis Tsiolis): Kostakis, Katsikis (58′ Sotirhos), Tsiolis, Vasiliou, Rocastle (74′ Alves), Ventoura, Mavrogenidis, Wellington, Poulakos (46′ Chloros), Rokas, Liapakis.

Aris (Enrique Hernandez): Sifakis, Neto, Lebo, Ronaldo, Karabelas (63′ Toni Calvo), Vitolo, Nebegleras (63′ Nacho Garcia), Javito, Regueiro (86′ Roberge), Koke, Wlodarczyk.

Referee: Michalis Germanakos

Venue: Fyli Stadium, Fyli, Greece