Familiar face floors Panathinaikos

By Vassiliki Papantonopoulou

Nikos Liberopoulos came back to haunt former side Panathinaikos FC as his late strike gave AEK Athens FC a narrow derby win and lifted them above their rivals into second in the Hellenic National League table.

Konstantinou denied
The 29-year-old, who spent seven seasons at the Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium before his move to AEK in June 2003, made it two in three games against his former employers when his powerful drive from the edge of the area found the net with just five minutes remaining. Michalis Konstantinou had come closest for the home side when his 67th-minute shot came back off the woodwork.

Panionios postponed
The victory extended AEK's unbeaten start to the season to 14 matches and, with the encounter between Panionios NFC and Olympiacos CFP postponed because of crowd disturbance, AEK join leaders Olympiacos on 30 points. Panathinaikos are only a point further back but the gap between themselves and fourth placed Xanthi FC has been reduced to six after the latter side earned their first away win of the season in a dramatic match at Kallithea FC.

Five-goal thriller
With five minutes remaining, the game appeared to be heading for a tepid one-goal win for Xanthi, before the home side drew level with a Theofanis Gekas penalty. Xanthi pair Deniz Baikara and Stelian Carabas hit back with two in two minutes for the visitors but there was still time for Gekas to convert another spot-kick as Xanthi were made to hold on.

Comfortable win
OFI Crete FC won in more orthodox fashion against Ionikos FC after the visitors were reduced to ten men on 16 minutes when Georgios Poulopoulos was dismissed. Nikolaos Machlas broke the deadlock with a 37th-minute header and within two minutes, the contest was effectively over after Aleksandar Tomas doubled the advantage. Ionikos were later reduced to nine when Devanir Ferreira King was shown a second yellow card.

Five-star PAOK
The biggest win of the weekend came at PAOK Thessaloniki FC where the home team defeated Apollon Kalamarias FC 5-2 to condemn the bottom side to their fifth consecutive league reverse. Dionissis Hasiotis, Sladjan Spasic and Dimitrios Salpingidis were all on target, while Christos Maladenis scored two.

Ergotelis ease
Ergotelis FC capitalised on that result to ease themselves away from the foot of the table with a 1-0 win at Kerkira FC, while Halkidona FC's game against Egaleo FC and Iraklis FC's encounter with Aris Thessaloniki FC finished 1-1 and 0-0 respectively.