The team started the New Year in its worst way, remaining far from the first position of the scoreboard.

Panathinaikos experienced a defeat, almost by throwing up its hands, in the away match against Platanias, which thanks to a goal scored by Bananá prevailed in the game for the (postponed) 1st match day of the championship. The “Greens” remained with 22 points in the third place of the board, increasing by 12 points their difference from the top of the scoreboard.

As a tell-tale sign regarding the negative appearance of the guest team is the fact that the first chance created was only in the 43rd minute (by Berg after a foul executed by Villafañes), though their offensive performance till that moment was practically nonexistent. The home team was rather defensively oriented creating very few chances before Vlachodimos´ goalposts, though they led every duel and prevailed in all the initiatives. Platanias won easily spaces in the pitch without getting any threats by Panathinaikos, which assumed a rather passive role during all the first period.

Subsequently, the image of the second half was a repetition of that same “pattern”. Panathinaikos continued to be a supporting actor in the duel while the Cretans were trying to create chances to score. The difference was that the “Greens” tried to score by deploying counterattacks, without any chance though. Boumal, being inside the box, in the 55th minute, lost a unique chance as his shoot was stopped by Sotiriou.

In the 63rd minute Thelander rather saved than shot the ball from the penalty area, though Berg, being in a favorable position two minutes later, couldn’t take advantage from a crossed ball shot by Leto. On the other hand, Platanias was rewarded for his good game in the 74th minute, when Bananá took advantage from a wrong clearance Thelander did and from a moment of confusion of the defendants and shot successfully from very close, getting the ball into the net.

The score 1-0 remained unchanged during the 20 minutes till the end of the match. Despite the substitutions of the offensive players Vlachodimοs and Rinaldi, Panathinaikos was not able to create standard chances, neither prevail nor dominate the match. Thus, Platanias got a deserved and point wise important victory.

The teams:

Patanias: Sotiriou, Stathis, Bananá, Kargas, Prideta, Wanderson, Stanislavlievic (34’ Mendrinos), Munafo, Devesa (69’ Dinas), Manoussos (89′ Llorente), Yiakoumakis.

Panathinaikos: Vlachodimos Ο., Mesto, Koutroumbis, Themander, Hult, Reis (58’ Leto), Kourbelis, Boumal (81’ Rinaldi), Villafañes, Lod (75’ Vlachodimos P.), Berg.