Olympiakos keeps up pressure
Darko Kovacevic scored twice to help visiting Olympiakos beat Panionios 4-0 in the Greek Super League yesterday, a result which keeps the defending champion just two points behind front-runner Panathinaikos with a game in hand. Late on Friday night, Greek soccer’s disciplinary committee ordered a rematch between Olympiakos and lowly Apollon Kalamaria, which beat the Piraeus team in a shock victory last weekend. Olympiakos had filed an appeal arguing that the Thessaloniki team’s selection of a recent signing, Austrian international Roman Wallner, was improper because he had already represented two other clubs this season. A date for the rematch has not yet been set. On Saturday, an improved second-half display from Panathinaikos earned the league leader a 1-0 home win over battling Veria. The home side found it difficult to break down Veria’s resistance but found a way through when Austria captain Andreas Ivanschitz scored the winner in the 71st minute with a curled free kick from outside the area. AEK, which had held top spot in the standings for the season’s greater part, slipped to third place following a second consecutive defeat, this time a 1-0 loss at Larissa. Panathinaikos leads the standings with 46 points following 20 rounds of play, or exactly two-thirds of the way through the season. Olympiakos is on 44 points with a game less. AEK lies third on 42 points. Kovacevic gave Olympiakos the lead in the fifth minute after a mix-up in the Panionios defense. Captain Predrag Djordjevic converted a penalty to make it 2-0 in the 26th after he was fouled in the area by Sekou Berthe, who was shown a red card. Kovacevic stretched the lead to 3-0 after meeting a cross from Argentinean Luciano Galletti in the 53rd. Lionel Nunez rounded off the scoring in the 82nd. Struggling this season, Thessaloniki club PAOK, currently midtable, registered a badly needed win, 3-0, over crosstown rival Aris, which is equal fourth, 10 points behind AEK. Also yesterday, it was: Xanthi 4, Levadiakos 1; Ergotelis 2, Apollon 2; and Asteras 1, OFI 1. In the round’s other game, on Saturday, Iraklis and visiting Atromitos drew 1-1.
