Panserraikos pips Larissa for Cup win in Serres

By: Peter Katsiris | January 22nd, 2009

Their home record in the Greek Super League has been atrocious thus far, but Panserraikos finally grabbed a win at home on Wednesday night as a goal by Dimitrios Gourtsas sent the ‘Liontaria’ into the quarterfinals of the Greek Cup at the expense of Marinos Ouzounidis’ Larissa.

Playing on spoiled Serres Stadium pitch, both teams struggled to find their way throughout the opening quarter of an hour. Panserraikos, however, managed to muster an opportunity to break the deadlock on thirteen minutes. Mohammed Abubakari released a shot from just inside the Larissa box, but the Ghanaian only managed to win a corner against Larissa’s Croatian shot stopper Tomislav Vranjic.

Twenty minutes later the hosts had another chance to take the lead, but this time Bozidar Tadic provided a cross for Nino Bule but the latter was unsuccessful as he thwarted his header into the hands of Vranjic.

They came attacking shortly after, two minutes to be exact, and a similar cross once again found Bule but the Croatian was even less accurate with his header as he sent the aerial effort high over the crossbar.

Larissa grabbed its first chance of the match just moments later, and the ‘Vyssini’ created two consecutive chances in attempt to seize the lead. First, Walter Iglesias fired a shot from just inside the box but Panserraikos’ Aris Giannopoulos managed to deny the clear Argentine with a last-minute block to deny the goal bound ball. Off the rebound, Poland international Maciej Zurawski attempted to put his side in the lead but the result left the scoreboard untouched as the ball sailed wide of Fotis Kipouros’ goal.

He doubled that feat just before the halftime whistle, as once again the Polish striker blasted his effort wide despite being in an optimum scoring position.

Larissa’ wasteful approach continued shortly after the interval, but the decent positioning of Kipouros also went a long way to further frustrate the visitors.

Their first chance of the second frame came just eight minutes in. Former Greece international, Nikos Dabizas, played a headed pass to the feet of Iglesias and the Argentine fired a well taken shot towards Kipouros; however, the Greek keeper kept his clean sheet with a perfect block to keep the score level.

The inaccurate touch began to rub off on the hosts, as five minutes later Panserraikos ventured into the ‘Vyssini’ third of the pitch. Gourtsas released an effort goal wards, but the ball went way wide of Vranjic’s goal.

The 18-year-old Greek, destined to have a bright future within his native land, left his imprint on the game fifteen minutes after he fired wide. With more accuracy than his prior attempt, Gourtsas pounced on a rebound coughed up by Vranjic thanks to a hard shot from Marco Aurelio. The Greek was not to be denied this time, and with great composure slotted home the rebound into the net to put Panserraikos ahead by a goal with about ten minutes left in the match.

There was little reply from the visitors, as the hosts shutdown their opponents for a rare win at home and ticket to the quarterfinals of the Greek Cup. Both sides will meet again this Sunday, but Larissa will enjoy the comforts of the Alkazar Stadium as Panserraikos makes the trip to Larissa.

Panserraikos 1-0 AE Larissa
Gourtsas 79′

Yellow Cards:
Panserraikos – Kali 36′, Bule 81, Kallimanis 83′, Gourtsas 89′.
AE Larissa – Sarmiento 14′, Zurawski 62′, Iglesias 68′, Boukouvalas 74′, Ilic 90′.

Panserraikos (Hugo Broos): Kipouros, Galanopoulos, Kallimanis, Kali, Mutavdzic, Abubakari, Digkozis, Baykara (72′ Georgiadis), Tadic (60′ Aurelio), Bule, Bright (24′ Gourtsas).

Larissa (Marinos Ouzounidis): Vranjic, Dabizas, Aarab (86′ Vlasopoulos), Katsiaros, Boukouvalas (80′ Kyriakos), Sarmiento, Fotakis, Iglesias, Parra, Tsigas (68′ Ilic), Zurawski.

Referee: Dimitrios Kalopoulos

Venue: Serres Stadium, Serres, Greece.