Atromitos stuns PAOK at Thessaloniki
Atromitos forced PAOK’s third consecutive defeat in the Super League play-offs on Wednesday to throw the fight for the second spot in the mini-league wide open with one round of games left to play.
The Peristeri club triumphed 1-0 at Toumba to climb above PAOK – which at one point this season was on top of the Super League table and is now facing the prospect of finishing last in the play-offs and entering the Europa League from mid-July.
A goal by Tasos Karamanos at the end of the first half settled the game in favor of the visitors who suddenly have a chance to snatch the spot that leads straight to the group stage of the Europa League in September.
In Wednesday’s other game Panathinaikos and Asteras Tripolis shared a goalless draw, with Asteras being happy with the point and Panathinaikos – that has already secured the top spot in the mini-league – preserving its spotless defensive record in the play-offs for a fifth game in a row.
Stathis Tavlaridis left Panathinaikos with 10 men in injury time as he sought to get a red card to serve a one-game ban instead of having a greater penalty to serve on the total tally of his yellow cards this season.
Panathinaikos has 15 points, Asteras is second with seven, Atromitos is on five and PAOK is last with four.
In the final round of games on Sunday Atromitos hosts Panathinaikos and Asteras clashes with PAOK. The winner at Tripoli will snatch the second spot, but if Asteras does not beat PAOK Atromitos can nick the privileged position in the mini-league if it beats Panathinaikos.
In the second-division play-offs on Wednesday Iraklis Thessalonikis mathematically clinched the second spot, behind AEK, to secure its promotion back to the Super League after four years in the lower-division wilderness.
