Greece Round-up: No change at the top

There was little change in the Ethniki Katigoria standings on Sunday as the top five teams all won their respective fixtures.

AEK in charge
AEK Athens remain in top spot, three points ahead of Olympiakos Piraeus FC, and the two rivals face each other next Saturday, in a match that will decide this season's title. AEK made home advantage against Iraklis FC and cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win. Antonios Natsouras gave AEK the lead with an own-goal after 26 minutes, before Ilija Ivic doubled their advantage in the 56th minute and Demis Nikolaidis completed the scoring six minutes from time.

Hard work
Olympiakos made hard work of taming bottom club Panahaiki GC but eventually ran out 3-1 winners in Patras. The home side opened the scoring with a Dimitris Ioannou's header four minutes before the interval, but Olympiakos responded with three unanswered second-half strikes. Stelios Giannakopoulos struck twice, in the 76th and 83rd minutes, before Uruguayan striker Gabriel Álvez secured the three points in injury time.

Four-star Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos FC, with coach Sergio Markarian in the stands due to his ban following incidents in the recent derby against Olympiakos, were relatively untroubled in Aigaleo as they strolled to a 4-1 victory. Goran Vlaovic put the visitors ahead in the 12th minute and went on to complete his hat-trick with further strikes after 63 and 87 minutes. The 38-year-old Polish striker Krystof Warzycha also added his name to the scoresheet, before Aigaleo scored a consolation through Anestis Agritis in the dying moments.

Thriller in Thessalonika
FC PAOK Thessaloniki emerged victorious from a thrilling match against Akratitos, winning 6-3 in Thessalonika. Akratitos scored first through Christos Iliopoulos after 22 minutes but Georgios Georgiadis equalised two minutes later. Zlatan Spasic then scored twice in three minutes to give the hosts a two-goal cushion at the interval. In the second half, Georgiadis extended the home side's lead with two more goals (61 and 67) to complete his hat-trick, before Panagiotis Ziakas made it 5-2 after 72 minutes. Panagiotis Engomitis put PAOK further ahead two minutes later and Ziakas completed the scoring in the final minute. Georgiadis's treble sees him move level at the top of the goalscoring table with Demis Nikolaidis of AEK on 15 goals.

Geladaris winner
A penalty from Dimitris Geladaris on the stroke of half-time gave Xanthi FC a 1-0 win against Ethnikos Asteras. The result sees Xanthi secure their first ever participation in the UEFA Cup. 
Ionikos beat OFI Crete 2-1 in their encounter at the Communal of Neapolis stadium.

Red card
Luis Curbelo gave Ionikos the lead from the penalty spot after 13 minutes before OFI replied with a penalty of their own from Kostas Kiassos in the 26th minute. Oliver Makor was the hero for Ionikos as he scored the winner with four minutes left on the clock. OFI's Xenophon Moschogiannis was shown the red card for a professional foul on Angelos Vilanakis in injury time.

Aris held
In the day's other fixture, FC Aris Thessaloniki and Panionios GS played out a 1-1 draw. Marios Christodoulou looked to have given Aris the three points with his strike in the 84th minute but Ermin Siljiak equalised deep into stoppage time.