Back to winning ways
Goals, and a performance with substance, good football and three precious points. It was a great evening at the Toumba for PAOK who produced a posirive reaction, defeating NFC Volos 4-2 to get back to winning form. It;s a result which also keeps them on hte fringes of the title race in the Play Offs.
Razvan Lucescu’s team was determined, stuck to their plan, and produced energy and intensity to seal the victory in just 45 minutes, without giving the opposition a chance to impose themselves.
PAOK started the game impressively, taking control of possession, and from the first minute they began to press for the opening goal. After two good moments with A.Zivkovic and Ingason, it was the man from Iceland who opened the scoring.
After A.Zivkovic’s corner kick, Ingason beat everyone in the air to head home and made it 1-0 in the sixth minute. PAOK continued at the same pace and 10 minutes later the second goal came.
Kargas released Narey in behind the back of the visitors’ defense with an incredible pass, and the German controlled the ball with his chest before volleying home to make it 2-0.
Lucescu was forced to replace El Kaddouri with Taison and it was the Brazilian who took on the role of creator immediately. In the 27th minute he combined perfectly with Oliveira and teed up Narey who had no trouble making it 3-0 in the 27th minute.
The bad news for the PAOK coach continued though when he was forced to make yet another change as Douglas Augusto picked up a knee injury and was replaced by Stefan Schwab .
In the last phase of the first half it was Thiago Dantas who also put his name on the scoresheet. Taison sent the Portuguese clear on goal with a brilliant through ball, and the Brazilian beat the visiting ‘keeper to make it 4-0.
In the second half, the scene essentially remained the same, with PAOK starting strongly and threatening on several occasions. Against the flow of the match, however, NFC Volos found a goal with Tsokanis scoring with a header in the 57th minute.
The Double-headed Eagle continued to pin Volos back in their penalty area, created several good moments, but did not manage to score again, with the visitors instead scoring a second goal via Ozegovic in the 88th minute to make the final score 4-2.
Team lineups:
PAOK: Kotarski, Vieirinha (Lyratzis 78′), Ingason, Kargas, Rafa Soares, Augusto (Schwab 35′), Dantas, Narey (Biseswar 78′), A.Zivkovic, El Kaddouri (Taison 18′), Oliveira (Brandon 78′).
NFC Volos: Cleyman, Alho, Escoval, Sielis, Luna, Tsokanis (Ozegovic 63′), Katse (Metaxas 46′), Deletics, Barrientos (Kartalis 82′), Gaggi (Si 73′), Pires (Tsirinos 73′).
