Round 13: Greek Super League Wrap

By: Chris Paraskevas | December 9th, 2008

In cooperation with Goal.com:

At A Glance:

OFI Crete 0 – 1 Aris
Panserraikos 0 – 2 Ergotelis
Skoda Xanthi 1 – 2 Panathinaikos
Iraklis 1 – 1 Thrasyvoulos
Panionios 1 – 1 Larissa
PAOK 1 -1 Asteras Tripolis
Olympiakos 1 – 0 Levadiakos
AEK Athens 1 – 0 Panthrakikos

Aris began the weekend with a gutsy 1-0 win away against OFI Crete, Enrique Hernandez’s side shedding their tag as perennial pity-cases with what was an essentially undeserved result at the Pankritiko.

Toni Calvo’s injury-time cross-come-shot caught out Alexandros Kasmeridis at his near-post to extend the Thessaloniki side’s unbeaten run, denying new OFI manager Ioannis Matzourakis his first victory.

Ergotelis managed a Saturday victory away against Panserraikos, meanwhile, courtesy of a rather unfortunate own goal by Sambégou Bangoura and a late Mario Budimir strike.

The match itself was an apparently open affair, with the home side having wasted a number of goal-scoring opportunities before eventually crashing to their third loss in a row, leaving them in the relegation zone.

Henk Ten Cate’s Panathinaikos put the disappointment of a 1-1 home draw with Asteras Tripolis behind them, moving into third place with an impressive 2-1 win away against Skoda Xanthi.

The northern Greek side have only lost once at home this season and were outplayed by their Athenian opponents during the first-half, Gilberto Silva’s first Panathinaikos goal giving the visitors the lead.

As has been the case so often this season though, they threw away their advantage with a poor second-half performance, Dimitrios Sounais equalising before Pana’s Spanish centre-back Josu Sarriegi was shown a second yellow card.

His team-mates rallied however, before 22 year-old Croatian striker Ante Rukavina came off the bench to steal a priceless late winner for his side ahead of a crucial Champions League clash with Anorthosis Famagusta in mid-week.

Three 1-1 draws kicked off Sunday’s Greek Super League, as new Iraklis manager Makis Katsavakis saw his side held at home by last-placed Thrasyvoulos.

Panagiotis Kone had given Katsavakis the perfect start when he headed home from a Michalis Konstantinou cross after just 18 minutes, only for Giannis Chloros to equalise ten minutes later.

After a chaotic week during which their president and newly-appointed manager both resigned – replaced by the pair whom they had requested to leave the club – Panionios were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Larissa.

In what was the most surprising result of the round, Nikos Kostenoglou’s continued his unbeaten start as manager of Asteras Tripolis by guiding the Arcadians to an impressive 1-1 draw away at PAOK.

Fernando Santos’ high-flying Thessaloniki outfit are undefeated at home this season and looked to be on their way to another win when Ilias Anastasakos capitalised on a Marcelao mistakes inside the opening 20 minutes.

His team became the victims of their own comfort, however, lulled into a false sense of security against an initially docile Asteras side.

A poor start to the second-half performance by PAOK allowed the visitors to equalise thanks to a fine finish by Croatian striker Danijel Cesarec, his seventh goal of the season.

The home side did manage to recompose themselves however, launching a late attacking onslaught that should have yielded a dramatic injury-time winner, Anastasakos heading straight at Abaris from point-blank range.

Olympiakos were typically on-hand to capitalise on the slip-up by Santos’ men, Fernando Belluschi’s first-half finish giving them a 1-0 win at home to Levadiakos.

Ernesto Valverde’s men now lead the chasing pack by six points, with PAOK closest in second-place.

AEK Athens completed the weekend’s action by fighting their way to a first victory for manager Dusan Bajevic in his third spell at the club.

Their performance wasn’t particularly pleasing on the eye but the sheer will and collective effort shown was enough to overcome an in-form Panthrakikos, Ismael Blanco scoring what proved to be the winner during the first-half.