The match match that started with a missed penalty and a missed one-on-one chance, and the fear was – like so many times this season, that luck would again not be on PAOK’s side. But fortunately the visitors dominated proceedings and the match ended in «only» a 2-0 win. What matters, however, is the three points at such a critical juncture in the season. They are points that give the club momentum and the psychological boost needed in the race for second place.

Abel Ferreira opted once more for a 4-3-3 system starting with Miroslav Stoch, Diego Biseswar and Karol Swiderski in place of Chuba Akpom, Dimitris Limnios and the suspended Omar El Kaddouri.

The Dikefalos tou Vorra began strongly and up to the 12th-minute mark missed three great chances to open the scoring. Firstly Swiderski failed to beat Julian Cuesta from the penalty spot in the first minute after PAOK were awarded the spot-kick when Ba handled the ball. Then the Aris goalkeeper saved brilliantly from Biseswar when the Dutchman was clean through on goal, and finally, Cuesta came to rescue again to deny Giannoulis who fired in a powerful shot from inside the penalty area.

Aris tried to find an equalizer but it was PAOK who continued to create chances with Leo Matos narrowly missing the target from a good position in the 20th minute and Cuesta again coming out on top against Swiderski on 27 minutes.

The breakthrough finally came in the 36th minute when Varela powered in a header from Stoch’s set-piece. Aris tried to respond but Paschalakis reacted well in two incidents to deny them, and then Swiderski finished well from Biseswar’s assist in added time to send his team into the dressing rooms at half-time 2-0 up.

In the second half PAOK went about protecting their lead but also missed several other chances. There was little threat offered by the home side and in the end PAOK celebrated their second win of the Super League Play Offs.

Among the other game highlights was the debut of Charis Tsiggaras, who came on as a substitute, while Aris finished the game with 10 players after Giorgos Delizisis was sent-off in added time for a crude challenge on substitute Akpom, who would have had a clear run on goal.

Abel Ferreira’s team managed to come up with the ideal response to last Wednesday’s Greek Cup exit, they were completely superior for the whole 90 minutes at the Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium, and they made an important step towards securing second place and a spot in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers.

The team lineups:

Aris (Oenning): Cuetas, Rose, Delizisis, Lucas Sasha, Korhut, Ba, Matilla, Tonso, Mancini, Bruno Gama, Indeye

PAOK (Ferreira): Paschalakis, Matos (93’ Michailidis), Giannoulis, Varela, Ingason, Mauricio, Esiti, Swiderski(82’ Akpom), Tziolis (81’ Rodrigo), Stoch (86’ Tsiggaras), Biseswar (86’ Limnios).