Resurgent PAOK held to goalless draw
PAOK showed character and resurgence after last week’s defeat by Olympiacos by dominating proceedings against Panathinaikos at the Olympic Stadium, but a combination of bad luck, poor finishing and home goalkeeper Socratis Dioudis prevented them from claiming all three points from their Play Offs Matchday 2 encounter.
The mini tournament got off to a bad start at the Toumba. Olympiacos left with all three points, but what troubled PAOK the most was the team’s disappointing display. Thankfully, that display was a world away from what was witnessed on Saturday in Athens.
Abel Ferreira’s team produced the necessary reaction with a real solid display of football, but unfortunately only managed to come away with a point for those efforts
The home side from their side did not threaten the visitors goal at all, with the only real danger coming from some especially tough marking and tackling.
PAOK were on the front foot right from the kick-off, pressing high up the pitch and playing some great football with Dimitris Pelkas in particular in impressive form. The lively midfielder served up two assists for Dimitris Limnios and Diego Biseswar within the first six minutes, only to see both players denied by Dioudis.
The Dikefalos tou Vorra continued to pile the pressure on the home goal but each time they were stopped by Dioudis who was having an exceptional night between the posts. The Greece goalkeeper’s highlight moment came in the 27th minute when he produced three saves in a row to deny Limnios twice, and Pelkas.
PAOK squandered another chance before half-time when Pelkas failed to hit the target with a headed effort from inside the penalty area and the teams went into the dressing rooms level.
The second half began in the same vein as the first had, with PAOK on top. Dioudis denied Pelkas again in a one-on-on situation after 47 minutes, while he also had the answers to strikes from both Chuba Akpom and Lazaros Lamprou.
In the final half-hour Panathinaikos began to come out of their defensive shell and sought to counter attack, but they wasted their one and only chance in the 89th minute when Argyris Kapetsis was off target.
The finale featured a string of unsavory tackles and clashes as frustration began to take hold on both sets of players, with the Greens especially putting in some over-zealous tackles.
Team lineups:
Panathinaikos: Dioudis, Johansson, Schekenfeld, Kolovetsios, Insua, Kourbelis, Donis Κουρμπέλης (73’ Kampetsis), Zahid (46’ Ayoub), Bouzoukis (87’ Kolovos), Macheda (87’ Nunez), Chatzigiovanis (58’ Anuar).
PAOK: Paschalakis, Vieirinha (46’ Matos), Varela, Ingason, Giannoulis, Esiti (86’ Mauricio), El Kaddouri, Limnios (86’ Swiderski), Pelkas (78’ Rodrigo), Biseswar (46’ Lamprou), Akpom.
