Despite the fact that the “Greens” offered again the head start to their rival and have been flaccid for one period, they were able to reverse the score and finally win 2-1 Anagenisi. This way Panathinaikos is now very close to the second stage of the competitions for the Greek Cup. The match was held at the Municipal Stadium of Karditsa for the second match day of the group stage of the Greek Cup.
A well known image was, unfortunately, showed again by Panathinaikos to their fans in Karditsa. A flabby appearance, easy fights, a bad passing game and an almost inexistent threat towards the opponent goalposts was all that was seen during the first quarter of the first half. Then Anagenissi, the home team, opened the score in its first visit till that moment to Socratis Dioudis’ box. Sountoura penetrated from the left side unmolested, offering an assist to Plavoukos who scored. This first goal waked up the “Greens” who became aggressive for 10 minutes, from the 25th till the 35th minute, loosing chances to equalize, mainly with Chatziyiovannis and Cabezas. Thus, the first half finished by a 1-0 in favor of the hosting team and a totally flawed appearance by Panathinaikos in both its defense and its attack.
Things changed quickly, though, during the second half as Panathinaikos was much more active. Chatziyiovannis started alerting, as he lost a usual chance in the 48th minute; the team scored the equalizer in the 51st minute, by a head of Mounier, who scored his first goal wearing the green jersey, taking advantage of a nice cross by Johansson. Panathinaikos’ aggressiveness, though, gradually became thin and weak but controlling the attacks of the home team. In the last part of the game Panathinaikos started to increase its pressure aiming to win. This was achieved finally thanks to Molins who scored in the 91st minute, as the game was basically played in the box of Anagenissi.
By a 2-1 score, the “Shamrock” achieved two victories in two matches and did an important step forward in order to insure its qualification to the next step of the Greek Cup competitions.
Line-ups:
Anagenissi Karditsas: Gekas, Karriki, Konstantinopoulos, Theodorakis, Kiskambanis, Sountoura, Stamatakis, Bitelis (71’ Masouras), Plavoukos (56’ Hantzaras), Tzekos (84’ Kone), Pozatzidis
Panahinaikos: Dioudis, Johansson, Insua, Avlonitis, Evangelou, Sylla, Donis (79’ Bouzoukis), Mounier, Cabezas, Chatziyiovannis (59’ Lod), Pispas (69’ Molins)
