PAOK cruise to victory in Agrinio
SUPER LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 14
PAOK produced a comprehensive away performance at Panetolikos on Sunday to defeat the Agrinio side comfortably 3-0 and maintain their position in second place on goal difference behind Super League leaders Olympiacos.
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Dimitris Pelkas’ early strike put Abel Ferreira’s men in front following a lively start, and two goals in the space of three second-half minutes from Dimitris Limnios and Chuba Akpom rounded off another three-point success story.
Things are not quite as rosy for Panetolikos, who continue to prop up the standings with just four points collected from 14 matches. The Kanarinia are also still the only team in the league without a win and are surely staring relegation in the face if things don’t start to improve early in the New Year.
THE MATCH
Unbeaten in 49 matches, PAOK’s Invincibles arrived in Agrinio even with Olympiacos on 31 points atop the standings, and on paper appeared to have a slightly easier match-up than their rivals from Piraeus who were playing Asteras Tripolis.
The Agrinio club failed to win a single match in their first thirteen games and were coming off a 3-0 loss to Olympiacos last week.
If PAOK expecting to see a reaction from a Panetolikos team eager to make up for last week, it didn’t show as the Thessaloniki club went on the offensive from the kick-off. The reward was a goal from their first attack in the seventh minute.
Pelkas was the man on target. The Greek international is back in favor with Ferreira after a lean spell following an injury, and he was on hand to side-foot home into an empty net after Panetolikos goalkeeper Christopher Knett had saved Karol Swiderski’s effort from Dimitris Giannoulis’ cross.
That goal extinguished any early hopes that Panetolikos could play their way into the game, and PAOK looked content to rest on their lead up to half-time.
In the second half, PAOK put their foot on the accelerator pedal again and effectively ended the match as a contest with a couple of quick-fire goals after the hour mark.
The first strike came in the 66th minute, and Limnios was the man on target. The architect, however, was Chuba Akpom. The English forward showed great movement to free himself down the left, and then he picked out the run of Limnios perfectly for the Greek winger to prod the ball home.
Akpom then turned from provider to executor three minutes later when he took on a slick pass from Josip Misic and scored with a clinical side-footed finish to put the seal on another great win for PAOK.
STARTING LINEUPS
Panetolikos: 1 Knett (GK), 5 Jovanovic, 6 Tahar, 21 Sagna, 11 Diaz, 91 Martial, 18 Lucero, 8 Biai, 12 Ariyibi, 20 Fytopoulos, 92 Sjostedt
PAOK: 88 Zivkovic (GK), 3 Matos, 4 Ingason, 15 Crespo, 23 Giannoulis, 18 Limnios, 8 Mauricio, 27 Misic, 20 Vieirinha, 10 Pelkas, 9 Swiderski
HIGHLIGHTS
