Clement gives Panthrakikos Cretan victory

By: Peter Katsiris | January 5th, 2009

Panthrakikos continued its reign as the Super League’s dark horse with a narrow win over Ergotelis at the Pangkritio Stadium in Crete. A late first half tally from Ludovic Clement was enough for the Thracian club to trickle past their hosts on Saturday.

Ergotelis’ poor form in the latter stages of the opening half of the season saw the Cretan club quickly slip from the top quarter of the table. Despite starting the season off with a strong winning record to match current leaders Olympiacos stride for stride, error stricken nights in November and December dropped the Canaries to below the midpoint mark in the standings.

Mario Budimir nearly got struggling Ergotelis off to a flying start in 2009 on just five minutes, as the Croat released a tricky shot which was eventually saved by Panthrakikos ‘keeper Jose Manuel Roca.
Redirecting traffic, Panthrakikos responded with a rush of its own nearly sixty seconds later, but Abdul Diallo sent his effort wide of Iosif Daskalakis’ goal.

The next Panthrakikos attempt was a little more accurate than the previous, as Sito Riera took Sergio Ponce’s pass in full stride before driving a fierce shot at the gut of Daskalakis on twenty-one minutes. The Greek shot stopper reacted well to deny the on-loan Espanyol midfielder and kept the match scoreless.

A defensive error by Ergotelis’ Gernot Plassnegger allowed Christos Charalambous to take advantage of space in the box, but he did not make the most of the lapse as Daskalakis moved quickly to deny the Greek striker.

Just before the half hour mark, Ergotelis collected its second chance of the match and highly praised midfielder Vasilis Koutsianikoulis was at the center of attention for the home side. The once called up Greece international drilled a shot from long distance in an attempt to catch Roca off guard; however, much to Koutsianikoulis’ dismay the Spanish ‘keeper was able to recover just in time.

While Ergotelis failed to surprise Roca at one end, Panthrakikos was successful at the other end enalry ten minutes later. Awarded a free kick just outside the Ergotelis box, Clement was elected to take the set piece. The constructed wall, nor Daskalakis, could stop the effort as the Frenchman delicately thumped the ball past the goal line to give the Komotini based side a 1-0 lead five minutes before the interval.

Stung by Clement’s stellar shot, Ergotelis looked to erase the deficit in a timely fashion. First Junior had his effort blocked and sent out for a corner by Roca, as the Brazilian attempted to equalize at the stroke of half time. Then Budimir nearly closed the opening frame on a high for the hosts, but the Croat was yet again denied by Roca despite being in optimum positioned inside the Panthrakikos box.

Trailing by just one, Nikos Karageorgiou’s men were in search of a leveller quickly after the restart. With Junior frustrating defenders, the Brazilian continued to be the hot shot for Ergotelis but his skill on the ball didn’t compare to his finishing as he flashed another effort unattractively wide.

Panthrakikos then looked to create a little breathing room with two efforts in the span of as many minutes. The club’s leading scorer, Diallo, narrowly missed on adding to his four goal output this season as his effort on fifty-nine minutes mirrored Junior’s attempt from just moments ago.
Clement then provided a curling cross in towards Ponce who should have placed his effort more neatly, but a sloppy strike allowed Daskalakis to make a save.

Roca then became the busier goalkeeper, with the likes of Junior and Koutsianikoulis peppering the Spaniard with several shots. First the former released a shot which needed a firm save to keep it out, while Koutsianikoulis’ slicing run into the box resulted in Roca reaching to keep his goal pure.

While Ergotelis pushed and pushed for what would now be a dramatic equalizer, Panthrakikos looked to take advantage of a vulnerable backline. Riera broke free of his markers, and reached the goal on breakaway; despite having time and plenty of room to provide the match’s second goal the Argentine released an inaccurate shot which smashed against the side of the goal.

Mauricio Fernandes’ try in the second minute of stoppage time was the hosts’ last chance to draw level, but the Brazilian did little to help his team and Ergotelis started the New Year on the losing end of a close game in Crete.

Ergotelis 0-1 Panthrakikos
Clement 40’

Yellow Cards:
Ergotelis – Orfanos 33’, Budimir 79’, Fragoulakis 85’, Mauricio 86’.
Panthrakikos – Charalambous 28’, Zapropoulos 53’, Aggelopoulos 90’+3’.

Ergotelis (Nikos Karageorgiou): Daskalakis, Mauricio, Orfanos (53’ Rogerio), Kennedy (62’ Geladaris), Plassnegger, Kordonouris, Junior, Koutsianikoulis (74’ Vakouftsis), Fragoulakis, Ogounsoto, Budimir.

Panthrakikos (Emilio Ferrera): Roca, Velasco, Zapropoulos, Clement, Oliseh, Ponce (80’ Matthys), Lopes, Diallo, Riera (90’+4’ Baharidis), Charalambous (73’ Konstantinidis), Aggelopoulos.

Referee: Kostas Papastamatis

Venue: Pangkritio Stadium, Heraklion, Greece.