Boateng hands Panathinaikos dramatic win over Panachaiki

Panathinaikos was able to win Panachaiki at Patra 2-1 with a second half injury time goal by newly acquired 17-year old Derek Boateng. A perfect start for the young Ghanean striker who gave Aggelos Anastasiadis a sigh of relief for giving him a place in Panathinaikos line-up (came in as a substitution in the 46th minute of the game) only after the player had two training sessions with his new club.

In the same stadium where Panathinaikos last season gave up any chances for a championship title was able to get a late dramatic win and get the three points needed. The 1-1 score held true for 90 minutes and Panathinaikos looked like they were going to drop some points once again at the Panachaiki stadium. On the other hand, Anastasiadis played his cards excellent once again and by taking risk he was completely right at the end. What is that mean? Very few would expect that Boateng would be used for a whole half, a player that has only been with the team less than a week. But what reasons were in place for Anastasiadis to throw into the game a fifth attacker (Sigurdson in place of Vokolos)?

First half's intermission found Panathinaikos losing 1-0 and Aggelos Anastasiadis a "wild man" by his team's performance. Panathinaikos played a notch lower than expected without being dangerous in front of Panachaiki's defensive area. Zero chances, zero goals which lead to a Solakis strike. It was the 32nd minute of the game when the young striker unleashed a thunderous shot from about 40 meters out to only force Nikopolidis to bend down and pick the ball up from the back of his net. The goal from Panachaiki gave Panathinaikos a reason to start playing better, forced them to take control of the game, but at the end Lymperopoulos and Warchycha were facing 3-4 defenders that they couldn't go through.

Yiannis Goumas' absence forced Anastasiadis to drop Henriksen back (these past few games he had been playing excellent in the midfield area) right next to Vokolos. On the other side, Saric proved once again that he is not ready (was replaced by Sypniewski) with the result being that the Panathinaikos right flank was open to attacks. The Greek coach trusted Galetto as the midfield player that would break off any Panachaiki attacks but the Argentinean player was not able to take on such role yet after his injury.

In the 68th minute of the game Giorgos Karagounis delivered a low shot that send the ball to the arms of Panachaiki goalkeeper Mpaltimas who failed to control it and after the ball hit his upright post ended in the back of the net to make the score 1-1. Panathinaikos was able to go ahead on the score when Boateng delivered a low shot himself exposing Mpaltimas' problem to make the score 2-1 two minutes into injury time.

Stadium: Patra National

Scorers: Solakis 32' (Panachaiki) - Karagounis 68', Boateng 90+' (Panathinaikos)

PANATHINAIKOS (Anastasiadis): Nikopolidis, Henriksen, Vokolos (Sigurdson 84'), Saric (Boateng 46'), Olivares, Mpasinas, Karagounis, Koutsoures, Warzycha, Galetto (Sypniewski 46'), Lymepropoulos.