SL2 23/24: Egaleo 1-1 Athens Kallithea

After taking a second-half lead on Saturday afternoon, Athens Kallithea were unfortunate to concede an equalizer from a set piece which replays showed was offside, and ultimately would be forced to settle for one point in a 1-1 draw away to Egaleo in Matchday 5 of the 2023/24 Super League 2 season.

Given the rough pitch at Stavros Mavrothalassitis Stadium, AKFC were prepared to play more direct than usual, as manager Alekos Vosniadis deployed a 4-4-2 formation with Giannis Loukinas and Panagiotis Kynigopoulos up front.

Michaël Pereira, who scored AKFC’s winner against Panathinaikos B on Tuesday, would have two decent looks at goal from set pieces within the first half hour, but he could not find the target on either occasion.

AKFC produced their best chance of the half in the 35th minute, when Demethryus slipped the ball through the defense for Loukinas, but his attempt to clip the ball over the sliding ‘keeper went over the bar, and the two sides would go into the break scoreless.

From the start of the second half, AKFC applied heavy pressure on the hosts, and it quickly paid off. In the 48th minute, Loukinas, collecting a long ball from left-back Abdul Rahman Weiss, played Kynigopoulos into a 1-v-1 with ‘keeper Dimitrios Katsimitros, and when Katsimitros charged off his line, Kynigopoulos poked the ball underneath him to make it 0-1.

It should have been a relatively comfortable scenario for AKFC, following two consecutive 1-0 victories while boasting the league’s best defensive record. But they would suffer a setback just before the hour mark.

In the 56th minute, Egaleo had a deep free-kick that was launched into the box, and when the ball was headed on to the back post, it fell for an unmarked John Kamara to put it in from close range. Frustratingly, video replays showed that Kamara was clearly offside on the play, but the flag stayed down and the goal stood.

In the 68th minute, Loukinas got into prime scoring position but would head wide of the post on a cross from Javier Matilla, and further clear-cut chances would be increasingly hard to come by as Egaleo sat back and defended to protect a point.

In the stoppage time, Alaixys Romao worked his way into the box and fired a shot on goal from a tight angle, but it was stopped by Katsimitros, and that would be AKFC’s last chance, as the match ended 1-1.

Athens Kallithea (4-4-2): Pantos, Manthatis (87’ Bouloulis), Marotta, Mejías (63’ Silva), Weiss (87’ Vlachos), Pereira (63’ Vasilogiannis), Matilla, Romao, Demethryus (78’ Ioannidis), Kynigopoulos, Loukinas