Aris, Panthrakikos add spice to relegation dogfight
The relegation battle is heating up in the Super League as Aris and Panthrakikos scored precious victories over the weekend to drag AEK and Veria back into the dogfight, while Kerkyra has been mathematically relegated.
Ten-man Aris stunned fourth-placed Atromitos winning 1-0 at Peristeri on Saturday. Despite playing for over an hour with a man’s disadvantage after David Aganzo’s dismissal, the struggling Thessaloniki team scored the game’s only goal in the 82nd through former Atromitos player Andreas Tatos to increase its chances of survival, although remains in the drop zone.
Panthrakikos also took a stride toward safety by beating visiting OFI Crete 3-1 at Komotini on Sunday, making the Monday game between play-off hopeful PAS Giannina and AEK ever more interesting.
Veria is also in the thick of it, as it is level on points with AEK and Panthrakikos and just one point above Aris after going down at PAOK with a 2-0 score.
Kerkyra has already bid goodbye to the top flight, given its 2-1 home loss to Levadiakos.
Champion Olympiakos put four past Platanias at Hania, courtesy of Djamel Abdoun, David Fuster, Costas Mitroglou and Panayiotis Vlachodimos, while the upset of the weekend came at Tripoli, where Xanthi continued its amazing streak of performances away from home beating high-flying Asteras 1-0.
As a result PAOK is now alone in second, three points ahead of Asteras and Xanthi has climbed to sixth, staking a claim for a play-off spot with two rounds of games left to play in the regular season.
Finally, Panathinaikos slipped to seventh after its third consecutive scoreless game, a 0-0 draw at home with Panionios, although this time the Greens were considerably improved under caretaking coach Yiannis Vonortas.
