Levadeiakos win leaves OFI in shambles

By: Peter Katsiris | November 17th, 2008

Levadeiakos ended a long winless rout with a surprise 2-1 win over OFI Crete on Sunday. Striking on either side of the halftime whistle, Levadeiakos handed Pavlos Adamos his first loss as OFI manager. The Cretans picked up their first win of the season last weekend, but the win streak was halted at just one game thanks to Levadeiakos valiant performance.

The game was just six minutes old when Levadeiakos secured an early through Georgios Zisopoulos. Ioannis Taralidis had committed an illegal challenge moments prior, and off the ensuing free kick Zisopoulos slotted home Georgios Kiassos redirected free kick.

It took OFI seventeen minutes to respond, but when they did they made it count on the scoreboard. Taralidis made up for this fouling spree from the opening minutes with a strike from long distance. With plenty of power the ball thrashed into the Levadeiakos goal to level the match at 1-1.

With scoring not coming easily for the hosts, it was doubtful that they would grab another goal; however, all doubts were discarded shortly after the hour mark. Kiassos turned from provider to goal scorer with his stunning long ranged strike beating Malarz on sixty-four minutes.

Despite recovering from the first deficit, OFI was unable to comeback from the second Levadeiakos lead as the hosts held off the Cretan club to assure themselves of maximum points.

As both sides are still closely linked to the ongoing relegation, next weekend’s fixtures will require an even greater performance. Levadeiakos will travel to Nea Smyrni to face Panionios, while OFI will welcome Athenian giants AEK Athens to the Pankritio Stadium.

Levadeiakos 2-1 OFI Crete
Zisopoulos 6′, Kiassos 64′ – Taralidis 23′

Yellow Cards:
Levadeiakos – Machado 62′, Bushi 72′.
OFI Crete – Taralidis 5′, Barcauan 15′, Isa 46′, N’ Doye 54′, Simic 63′, Kounenakis 77′.

Levadeiakos (Momcilo Vukotic): Blazic, Emeran (46′ Triposteris), Machado, Kapsis, Koltzos, Zisopoulos, Basala, Kiassos (88′ Georgiev), Dimbala (78′ Montoya), Andralas, Bushi.

OFI Crete (Pavlos Adamos): Malarz, Barcauan, Isa, Kounenakis, Gerber, Stavrakakis, Sfakianakis (76′ Dimoutsos), Taralidis, Simic (67′ Erera), Popovic, N’ Doye.

Referee: Nathanail Charalmbidis

Venue: Levadias Stadium, Levadia, Greece