Coming up against a tough opponent in the shape of the Vissini, PAOK put to rest any doubts about potential fatigue from the team’s heavy fixture schedule by coming away from Larissa with a superb victory.

The Dikefalos tou Vorra began at a high tempo, clearly aiming to get an early goal that would settle any nerves. Dimitris Pelkas missed a golden chance to do just that after 11 minutes, but just three minutes later the deadlock was broken. Following a cross from Leo Matos, Lamprou flicked the ball on to Akpom, who nodded it on to the on-rushing Limnios, who applied the finish to score.

The home side responded well and tried to get back in the game, but PAOK’s defensive line held firm, and when any threats did get through, goalkeeper Zivko Zikovic was there to snuff them out.

The first half came to a hugely satisfying end for Abel Ferreira’s team, with Douglas Augusto finding the back of Ogmundur Kristinsson’s net with a sumptuous long-range strike to make it 2-0 to the visitors.

In the second half, the Dikefalos tou Vorra understandably failed to keep up at the same tempo, and too their foot of the accelerator and looked to sit back and play in a more relaxed way and simply hold on to their advantage.

Pelkas hit the crossbar with a header on 56 minutes as PAOK came close to a third goal, before the Vissini pulled a goal back against the run of play in the 67th minute through Iliadis’ powerful shot from just inside the penalty area.

From then on, however, PAOK produced a footballing lesson in how to hold on to a lead, not allowing the home side so much as a sniff of a second goal that would have leveled matters, and left Thessaly with three valuable points.

Team lineups:

Larissa (Michalis Grigoriou): Kristinsson, Ballas, Torje, Papazoglou, Muzek, Markovic, Moras, Cecerovic, Assoubre, Ghazal (45’+1’ λ.τρ. Iliadis), Silva (77’ Pinakas)

PAOK (Abel Ferreira): Zivkovic, Matos, Ingason, Varela, Giannoulis, Douglas, Mauricio, Limnios, Lamprou (85′ Rodrigo), Pelkas (61’ El Kaddouri), Akpom (76′ Swiderski)