18/4/2007 OLYMPIAKOS out of the relegation zone
For the first time since Christmas Olympiakos has managed to climb out of the relegation zone, after a 2-1 win against Omonia who are currently second in the Cypriot FA league. It was a totally deserved victory. Both teams started the match cautiously which resulted in non-entertaining first half. During this period Olympiakos missed a good chance in the first few minutes while Omonia needed 44 minutes to create a descent opportunity. The second half started more brightly with Omonia becoming more attacking and Olympiakos aiming to strike on a counter attack. In one such counter attack on the 53 minute Machado evaded the Omonia defense only to be brought down by Grozdanofski just outside the box. The Omonia player saw the red-card and Olympiakos took full control of the match. Themistokleous had a good opportunity to score in next few minutes but his thundering shot was saved by the Omonia goalkeeper Georgalides. But Georgalides could do nothing to stop a beautiful goal marked by Panigutti on the 63rd minute. Machado made the run on the right wing to get at the end of a long pass. He sent the ball back to Tiago who immediately found Panigutti in front of the goal. The Argentinean didn�t miss the opportunity to show his class, sending the ball in the back of the net with a lovely back hill. Olympiakos was unlucky not to make it 2-0 when Machado�s free kick hit the crossbar. Omonia managed to equalize in a rare opportunity on the 71st minute with Vakouftsis but Olympiakos was not to be denied all three points. The two substitutions introduced by Rotsa, Pittas and Spasic combined on the 79th minute to score the second goal. Pittas made a good run on the left with the ball before sending a lovely cross in the area which Spasic met with a precise header leaving no chance to the Omonia goalkeeper. The end of the match found the Olympiakos players, fans and management celebrating what might turn out to be a very important victory.
Olympiakos played with: Stylianou, Adinolfi, N. Nikolaou, N. Nikolaou, Papaioannou, Machado (Hristof 91), Themistokleous, Tiago (Spasic 74), Georgiou, Panigoutti and G.Nikolaou (Pittas 66).
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