New Year Same Old AEK

First off, I would like to wish a happy and healthy New Year to everyone. We the fans are AEK’s core, no other team has the type of fans that we have. We deserve a pleasant and successful 2017.

Just this afternoon we took on Panatoliko at the OAKA in our last home match for a little while actually. Adjarevic made his debut today, he looked pretty lively looking to create and was moving around a lot. In the 4th minute he had a strong shot with the left well saved by Peristeridi who had a good game in the OAKA.

In the 25th minute Pekart saw an open goal for just a moment following a set piece, he failed to get his shot off in a timely manner however. Right before the half ended we had a couple of shots blocked in and around the box by the Panatoliko defense. 0-0 once again at the half.

We are looking for the all important goal in the second half. In the 47th minute the ball almost snuck it’s way in after a Mantalo set piece. In the 50th minute Pekart almost latched onto a long ball but Peristeridi beat him to it and with a fist beat the ball away. In the 65th minute Panatoliko had their first appealing moment in the match after a cross which required a touch behind for a corner by Barkas.
Bakaseka would make his return from injury also in the 65th minute. He made an immediate impact and with his first touches on the ball played in a nice cross to Mantalo who failed to connect properly. The chances were flying think and thin at this point. Just a minute after the Mantalo chance Clesio picked up ball in a wonderful position after a mix up in the back and shot inches wide of Barkas’ net. Mantalo would have another chance in the 75th minute but dragged his shot wide.

Just three minutes after that Johanson brought down the ball with a lovely touch off the chest and with a cracking volley forced another top notch save from the Panatoliko number one. In the 88th minute after a bit of a scramble in a tight area Simoes forced yet another solid save from Peristeridi. Just a minute after that, Clesio who caused our defense a world of trouble with his pace, did exactly that, and opened up his legs and outpaced Lambropoulo only to have his shot expertly saved by Barkas keeping the score deadlocked.
We would have a final chance in stoppage time but once again Peristeridi was up to it and beat away a Lambropoulo downward header.

The match would end 0-0, yet another tie for AEK. Why are we not winning these games especially at home. At this stage in the season that we find ourselves in we can’t dwell on matches like this. We simply have to put a strong showing next match against Astera would played Olympiaco very tough today to only lose in the 93rd minute in very Olympiaco typical late fashion. Let’s go boys, lets bounce back strong on Saturday.