Panathinaikos was dominant in Shrewsbury and achieved a comfortable, clean and at the same time valuable victory. The Greens prevailed 2-0 over New Saints for the 5th matchday of the League Phase of the Conference League and are one step away from the knockout stages of the competition as in the event of another victory (or even a draw) against Dinamo Minsk next Thursday (19/12) at OAKA, they will secure the ticket for the next phase, regardless of the results of the remaining matches.
Rui Vitoria’s team entered the field from the first minute with determination and seriousness, completely imposing their rhythm as victory was a one-way street. And indeed, the three points came without the Greens being substantially threatened by the home team.
In fact, the Clover is wronged by the final score, which could have been wider, as it created classic opportunities to score more goals. The most important thing of all, however, is -beyond the points- that the team won for the second consecutive match in the League Phase after the 1-0 win over Helsinki and the third overall in the last eight days after the away victories over Atromitos for the Cup and Asteras for the championship.
Panathinaikos took control of the game from the start and had its first big chance in the 15th minute. Ioannidis made a tremendous individual move from the left and “broke” the ball for Djuricic, who made a pass. Roberts prevented the goal, which came immediately after.
In the following phase and after a nice collaboration from the right with Tete, Vagiannidis made the turn in the heart of the area towards Djuricic, who was defeated in the first minute by Roberts, but took the rebound and immediately executed with his right foot, opened the scoring by scoring his eighth goal this year!
The Greens threatened again in the 40th minute with a header by Arao, which went just over the crossbar, and a powerful shot by Ingason from close range, which was instinctively saved by Roberts, maintaining the 0-1 at the end of the half.
In the 57th minute, another great opportunity was missed when Tete opened the scoring for Vagiannidis, who made a great move, avoiding the home goalkeeper, but was stopped by Daniels at the last minute.
0-2 was not long in coming. The high pressure from Bakasetas and Djuricic on the edge of the opponent’s area led to the Serb stealing the ball and turning it over inside the area. The referee awarded the penalty and in the 61st minute, Ioannidis executed it accurately, returning to scoring goals after the incredible goal he scored last August in the qualifiers against Lens.
The final score could have been higher if in the 76th minute Tete’s shot had not hit the legs of The New Saints defenders, if in the 80th minute Roberts had not saved Mancini’s finish in a one-on-one, and if in the 92nd minute Ioannidis’ shot had not gone just wide of the Welsh team’s right post.
The New Saints: Roberts, Baker (12′ Daniels), McGahey, Pask, Davis, Clark (78′ Wilson), D. Williams (63′ Smith), Redmond, Holden, J. Williams (63′ McManus), Brobbel (78′ Bradley).
Panathinaikos: Dragowski, Vagiannidis (89′ Kotsiras), Mladenovic (73′ Max), Schenkeveld (46′ Jedvaj), Ingason, Arao, Maksimovic, Bakasetas (89′ Ounahi), Tete, Djuricic (73′ Mancini), Ioannidis.
