Ergotelis Denies Panathinaikos Win

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March 10 2007

Olympiakos moved within five points of their ninth championship in ten years after coming from behind to beat Apollon Kalamarias 2-1 on Sunday, while Panathinaikos lost 1-0 at home to Ergotelis.

AEK Athens leapfrogged Panathinaikos into second place with a 1-0 win at Larisa.

Olympiakos fell behind in the 13th minute when Greece goalkeeper Andonis Nikopolidis was beaten by Dimitris Orfanos.

Brazilian Rivaldo levelled the scores in the 59th minute with his 14th goal of the season, and Nery Alberto Castillo grabbed the winner in the 73rd minute.

With five games remaining, Olympiakos have 62 points, ten clear of AEK who are one point ahead of the inconsistent Panathinaikos. In the unlikely event of the top two finishing on the same points, Olympiakos would be crowned champions by virtue of their superior head-to-head record against AEK.

After pulling out all the stops last week to win at Olympiakos, Panathinaikos slumped to their sixth defeat of the season against Ergotelis. The Cretans took the lead through midfielder Dragan Nacevski, but were reduced to ten men when former Real Madrid midfielder Perica Ognjenovic was sent off for his second yellow card.

AEK, equally inconsistent since Christmas, beat Larisa thanks to a goal from Vladimir Ivic.

The relegation battle is still open although Iraklis's 1-0 defeat at Aris Salonika left them five points adrift of safety in 15th place. Ionikos are already down.

The only good news for Iraklis was that fellow strugglers Egaleo and Kalamarias also lost. But Kerkyra's 4-3 win at OFI Crete improved the Corfu team's chances of staying up.