Razvan Lucescu’s players knew the importance of the match, and they showed it with a focused 90 minutes, not giving the opposition the slightest look in. In fact the home side could only muster one real attempt on goal during the whole game, and PAOK claimed three points with two excellent goals. The result means PAOK’s fate remains in their own hands in the battle for third place, as with a victory on Sunday (14.05) over Olympiacos at Toumba Stadium they will secure third spot and book a ticket in next season’s UEFA Europa League.

The Double-headed Eagle may have made many changes to their lineup, with some key players absent, but the visitors showed their determined and competitive spirit from the kick-off, and began to threaten home ‘keeper Avgerinos’ goal.

Vieirinha, Biseswar and Konstantelias missed some good chances, before Andrija Živković stepped up to provide the solution. Konstantelias pressed high and stole possession for his team, passed to Dantas, and the Portuguese released the Serb who scored with a brilliantly placed effort to make it 1-0 in the 29th minute.

Seven minutes later Brandon headed just over the bar, while Nasberg, Konstantelias and Vieirinha then all missed good chances. The game was simplified further for Lucescu’s men in the 45th minute. Pires put in a wreckless tackle on A. Živković, and match referee Vergetis dismissed the home player after consulting the phase via VAR, meaning the Double-headed Eagle played the rest of the game with a numerical advantage.

PAOK entered the second half with the goal of locking up the result and managed to do so within 12 minutes. In the 57th minute, Schwab produced a brilliant piece of play and crossed for Brandon , who headed the ball home to make it 2-0.

Lucescu then sought to manage the rest of the game, and his players did their jobs well, also creating several more scoring chances, the highlight being a Filipe Soares effort which hit the woodwork. There were no furthe goals, but PAOK celebrated an important victory on the road ahead of the final league game of the season and the Greek Cup final to come.

Team lineups:

NFC Volos: Aygerinos, Tahatos, Aslanidis, Pirinen, Si, Metaxas, Katse (Luna 87′), Economopoulos (Triandafillou 63′), Kartalis (Alcho 75′), Methkida (Tsokanis 75′), Pires.

PAOK: Kotarski, Lyratzis, Kedziora, Nahberg, Vieirinha, Schwab (Filipe Soares 70′), Dantas, A.Zivkovic (El Kaddouri 70′), Konstantelias, Biseswar (Tzimas 79′), Brandon (Ricardo 81′).