Spot of relief for Olympiacos

By Vassiliki Papantonopoulou

Olympiacos CFP ended a tumultuous week with a hard-fought win against Iraklis FC to remain two points behind leaders Panathinaikos FC, who cantered to an emphatic 5-1 victory at home to OFI Crete FC. AEK Athens FC, meanwhile, were shocked by the Alpha Ethniki's bottom side Apollon Kalamarias FC.

Three-point penalty
Olympiacos CFP began the week at the summit but they and Panionios NFC had three points deducted by the Hellenic Football League yesterday after crowd trouble saw the match between the sides abandoned last week. Any hopes of an easy return to action were dispelled by a resolute Iraklis side, however, and it took an hour before Predrag Djordjevic scored the game's only goal from the penalty spot after Bark Seguiri's handball.

AEK shocked
The three-point deduction had pushed Olympiacos back to third, but they leapfrogged AEK into second after their rivals suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of bottom-placed Kalamarias. Kostas Spiropoulos and a Silva Cleiton penalty put the home side 2-0 ahead inside the first 30 minutes and although AEK did pull back one goal on 82 minutes through Vladan Ivic, without the suspended Nikos Lyberopoulos and injured duo Alessandre Soares and Leonidas Kabantais, they could not muster an equaliser.

Kyrgiakos double
Panathinaikos are now top after cruising to victory against OFI Crete at an empty Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium because of crowd trouble against PAOK FC in December. Defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos scored two first-half goals, the second a spectacular back-heel, before further strikes from Silvio Maric, Michalis Konstantinou and Maciej Bykowski. Giorgos Kazantzis scored an added-time consolation.

Supporter killed
The match between Xanthi FC and Ionikos FC was postponed until tomorrow because of strong winds, with one 55-year-old supporter killed by a falling metal sheet on his way to the stadium. Xanthi's lack of action allowed Egaleo FC to close the gap to fourth to two points after defeating PAOK for the second time in four days.

PAOK repeat
After eliminating PAOK from the Greek Cup on Wednesday, Egaleo won again to record their first home victory in seven matches. They were forced to come from behind, however, after Dimitrios Salpingidis broke the deadlock, but two goals in a five-minute spell midway through the second half from Thomas Makris and Nikolaos Nikolopoulos sealed the points.

Tsigas tenacity
PAOK's city rivals Aris Thessaloniki were denied a crucial win as a spirited Kallithea FC side twice pegged them back through Thanassis Tsigas. The draw leaves PAOK 13th, a place ahead of Ergotelis FC, who lost 3-0 at home against Panionios. Elsewhere, the game between Halkidona FC and Kerkira FC ended goalless.