Panachaiki slip up against Doxa
Panachaiki slip up against Doxa
GREEK FOOTBALL LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 23
Panachaiki’s faint promotion hopes received a huge blow in the Football League, as the Patras club dropped a damaging 0:2 defeat to Doxa Dramas on the road.
The visitors knew that a victory was required to keep themselves in the promotion chase with leaders Aris Thessaloniki and OFI Crete, but Doxa had other ideas and deservedly earned all three points in Drama.
Doxa made a positive start in front of their home fans, scoring within the first ten minutes. 31-year old defender Evangelos Gotovos took advantage of pinball inside the penalty area, beating the Panachaiki goalkeeper with a low side-footed effort.
It didn’t take long for the hosts to double their advantage either. After just 13 minutes of play, a pinpoint cross found the onrushing Jose Maria Cases, who bundled the ball over the line to put Doxa in a commanding position. Nikos Kouskounas was later presented with two promising opportunities in an all-action first half, but he contrived to blast off target on both occasions.
Deniz Baykara almost put the game out of Panachaiki’s sight in the opening stages of the second half, smacking the left post with a neat header. Kouskounas then failed to score when clean through, but against the run of play, Panachaiki should have halved the deficit. Christos Eleftheriadis rounded the goalkeeper, however the woodwork denied him a goal. That miss proved to be Panachaiki’s final chance of note, with Doxa calmly seeing the match out with minimal fuss.
As a result, third placed Panachaiki now trail the leading pair of Aris and OFI by a large 10 points. Doxa are a further four behind in fourth position.
HIGHLIGHTS: DOXA DRAMAS - PANACHAIKI
by Shaun Nicolaides
Image Source: sdna.gr
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