SL2 22/23: Athens Kallithea 2-1 Kalamata

After jumping out to a 2-0 lead and taking command of the match on Monday afternoon, AKFC faced a late test when visitors Kalamata pulled one back from the penalty spot, but they would hold their nerve and ultimately Giannis Loukinas’ goal against his former club would stand as the winner, securing a massive result at El Paso in Matchday 11 of the 2022/23 Super League 2 season.

AKFC went ahead in the 23rd minute. From a clearance out of the back, Nili kept the ball from going out of touch on the left wing and laid it off for Demethryus, who skipped past a defender and cut inside to switch the play. When Omar Santana received the ball in the center of midfield and swung it out to the right wing, Panagiotis Kynigopoulos whipped a cross into the box, and midfielder Konstantinos Bouloulis finished with a diving header to open the scoring.

In the 41st minute, Kynigopoulos had a shot incredibly cleared off the line by Kalamata defender Junior Bakayoko. But three minute later AKFC would double their advantage on another cross from the right wing, with Nili putting in the cross and Loukinas fighting through traffic to finish, giving the team a 2-0 going into half-time.

After the break, AKFC kept their grip on the match until Kalamata were awarded a penalty in the 82nd minute when substitute midfielder Pavlos Laskaris took down Bakayoko in the box, with Alexandros Arnarellis converting from the spot to make it 2-1 with just under 10 minutes remaining.

Kalamata were suddenly right back in the match. But three minutes later, AKFC’s newly signed striker Nikos Ioannidis, who had replaced Loukinas in the 69th minute for club debut, collected the ball on the counter and cleverly drew a second yellow card from Bakayoko. With the visitors now down to 10 men, some of the pressure was relieved from AKFC as they sought to close out the result.

In stoppage time, Kynigopoulos couldn’t capitalize on two major chances to put the match away, keeping Kalamata close to the very end, and they would have one last chance for an equalizer in the 95th minute, when Andreas Tatos carried down the left wing and crossed into the box, but substitute Marcos Moser headed over the bar, ending the match.

AKFC are now unbeaten from their last seven matches in the league, and they will return to action on Monday 23 January playing away to Apollon Smyrnis in another key match with promotion implications.

Athens Kallithea (4-3-3): Strezos, Vasiloudis (60’ Rentzas), Koltsidas, Vlachos, Kainourgios (69’ Pereyra), Bouloulis, Santana (79’ Laskaris), Nili, Kynigopoulos, Loukinas (69’ Ioannidis), Demethryus (60’ Tsintonis)