Georgiadis goal enough for PAOK

FC PAOK Thessaloniki claimed the Hellenic Cup for a fourth time as a first-half goal from Giorgios Georgiadis earned a 1-0 victory against local rivals Aris Thessaloniki FC at the Gipedo Toumbas stadium.

Early chances
PAOK began the better, and had three good chances to open the scoring inside the first 20 minutes, as Mariusz Kukileka twice and Yiasoumis Yiasoumi once were denied by Aris goalkeeper Christos Labakis.

Georgiadis on target
However, PAOK made their early superiority count in the 24th minute, as Dimitrios Markos found Georgiadis inside the Aris penalty area, and the midfield player made no mistake, scoring with a left-foot shot. The goal seemed to spark Aris into life, and both Joël Epale and Richard Knopper might have equalised before half-time.

Georgiadis close again
The second half was a tighter affair, as PAOK sought to defend their narrow lead and relied on counterattacks to score a second goal. Much of the play took place in midfield, but Georgiadis had a great chance to double his team's lead two minutes past the hour, only to shoot straight at Labakis when chean through.

Late drama
Aris threw men forward as time ran out as they tried to find an equaliser that would have taken the match into extra time. With Epale a constant danger, their best chance arrived in the final minute, as Nasif Maurica's left-foot shot beat PAOK goalkeeper Kiriakos Tohouroglou but rebounded off the right-hand post.