Olympiakos takes back lead

Yugoslav midfielder Predrag Djordjevic converted two penalties yesterday as Olympiakos hammered Ionikos 6-0 to take the lead in the Greek first division soccer league, with 16 points after eight rounds. Iraklis played to a scoreless tie against Ioannina and dropped to second place with 15 points, the same as PAOK which beat Proodeftiki 3-1. AEK suffered a humiliating 3-2 defeat to lowly Akratitos and dropped to equal fourth place with 14 points, along with Aris, 2-1 winner over OFI on Saturday. Panathinaikos was held to a scoreless draw against Aegaleo and is in a three-way tie with Proodeftiki and Panionios for sixth place, with 13 points. In other action Sunday, it was: Panionios 0, Xanthi 3; Panachaiki 1, Kallithea 2. Olympiakos had an easy time against Ionikos. Djordjevic gave his team the lead with the first penalty in the 7th minute. In the 13th, Brazilian forward Giovanni made it 2-0 off a cross from Stelios Venetidis. Two goals from Stelios Yiannacopoulos stretched the lead to 4-0. Djordjevic made it 5-0 with his second penalty in the 55th, and Christos Patatzoglou made the final score 6-0 with a header in the 68th. Akratitos striker Panagiotis Ziakas received a deep pass from his defense in the 29th and slipped the ball through Dionyssis Hiotis’s legs to give his team the lead. It got worse for AEK in the 37th minute when their Costa Rican stopper Maurizio Wright tried to pass the ball back to his keeper but Ziakas got there first to make it 2-0. AEK managed to narrow the difference in the 68th with a free kick from Vassilis Tsartas. But efforts to level the score left it vulnerable to counterattacks. In one such attack in the 82nd minute, Tomas Razanauskas made it 3-1. A minute later, Tsartas scored again with a shot from the edge of the box. (AP)