All-weather PAOK win in Lamia
In a match which started in the rain, which then became a storm, and was followed by hail, once again Razvan Lucescu’s PAOK proved that they are used to facing difficult situations. The Double-headed Eagle prevailed 2-0 at Lamia’s “Athanasios Diakos” Stadium, ending the regular season of this year Super League Interwetten with a victory.
The PAOK coach switched things around for this match, giving a starting place to several players who have not been in the starting XI of late, as he looked to rest some players ahead of the tough schedule of matches which await in the Play Offs, UEFA Europa Conference League, and the Greek Cup.
And the players that came in vindicated the Romanian coach’s decision, as PAOK dominated proceedings, even when it seemed impossible to play football in the first half due ot the bad weather, which wreaked havoc in Fthiotida, making the playing surface of the pitch extremely heavy.
In that opening half, PAOK were the only team to threaten the goal, with two good chances. The first of those, in the 37th minute, yielded the opening goal of the game, with Schwab’s excellent pass playing in Leo Jaba, who scored with a perfect finish which left no room for home ‘keeper Garavelis to react.
The Double-headed Eagle could have locked up the three-point haul in the last phase of the first half with Schwab getting on the end of a cross with a powerful header in the 45th minute, but his effort sailed narrowly wide.
The second half began ideally for Lucescu’s team. Murg executed a corner in the 52nd minute and Michailidis rose to make it 2-0 to the visitors with a clinical headed finish.
PAOK kept pressing forward and missed some good opportunities to extend their lead, with Jaba twice not able to convert, while in the 67th minjute Lamia had the crossbar with Eleftheriadis’ header almost getting his team back in the game.
From that point on, the pace of hte game dropped, PAOK gave space to Lamia, but the home side could not find a way through PAOK’s defence and the match ended 2-0 to the visitors.
And so PAOK took all three points away from their visit to the «Athanasios Diakos», and the team now turn the page and begin their preparations for the first leg of their Round of 16 battle against Gent in hte UEFA Europa Conference League.
Team lineups:
Lamia (Festa): Garavelis, Saramantas, Adejo, Loukas, Provydakis, Bejarano (81′ Mazoulouxis), Nunez, Tyronne (54′ Bangoura), Eleftheriadis (69′ Tsoukalos), Manousos, Karamanos (81′ Vellios).
PAOK (Lucescu): Paschalakis, Sastre, Ingason (69′ Mihaj), Michailidis, Sidcley (46′ Vieirinha), Schwab, Soares (76′ Kurtic), El Kaddouri, Murg (69′ A. Zivkovic), Jaba, Colak (81′ Akpom).
