In spite of its superiority and its productivity, trying to create chances, Panathinaikos could not complete its difficult task, to overcome the 4-1 score of the first leg. The “Greens” won by 1-0 thanks to a goal scored by Mounier but were disqualified from the Greek Cup in a game held at “Ap. Nicolaidis” stadium, for the 2nd match day of the 3rd stage of the Greek Cup competition.

From a competition and football point of view the match seemed to be like a continuation of the match against Platanias, for the championship. Panathinaikos had power, aggressiveness and desire and was able to dictate its own rhythm in the pitch limiting from very early their opponents in their own space in the ground. Nevertheless, their failure to terminate their plays was obvious and so the creativity of Mounier and Coulibaly from the wings and of Villafañez from the center could not create goals. Gradually, Lamia, started to recover by finding ways to stop the aggressiveness of the hosts in the second half of the first period, which ended without a goal despite the nice chances lost by Altman. Miolins and Mounier.

Of course the score 0-0 by which both teams went to the pause was a bad omen concerning Panathinaikos ´qualification to the next stage of the Greek Cup, as the sand in the hourglass was empting dangerously and the target to score 3 goals was becoming less feasible. That´s why Marinos Ouzounidis took many risks in the substitutions he realized, according to such a difficult task. By the duo Villafañez – Hiljemark in the middle and a … full attack, the game was getting an image of a “roulette” as time was passing. The goal finally came in the 74th minute by Mounier, as a nice and just award of the “Shamrock’s” superiority. The stands and the team were full of expectations and the tension by a team that had run a lot was even bigger, though the result was not the expected one. A nice header by Donis in the 80th minute was maybe the most obvious chance for Panathinaikos to transform the last ten minutes into a “thriller”, but these were lost together with the qualification to the next stage…

Panathinaikos had to ingloriously say goodbye to the Greek Cup, for this season, dealing with the consequences of that shocking 4-1 last December in a snowy Lamia. From now on the “Greens” will have to focus all their efforts exclusively to the championship.

Lineups:

Panathinaikos: Vlachodimos, Coulibaly, Avlonitis (76′ Pispas), Kourbelis, Insua, Hiljemark, Tzandaris (57′ Donis), Villafañez, Mounier, Altman (58′ Chatziyiovannis), Molins

Lamia: Papadopoulos, Vassilantonopoulos, Omo, Panteliadis, Wanderson, Acoosta (78’ Tsoukalos), Anastassiadis, Anastassopoulos (60′ Κoutroumanos), Blazic, Asigba, Piti (86′ Buo).