Tuesday 7 January 2020

Panionios 3-0 Skoda Xanthi ( Att : 664 )


March 12, 2016


During a long weekend in Athens I took the opportunity to see my first ever match in Greece. As the AEK Athens home match had been moved to Monday evening ( they are now managed by Gus Poyet ) we ended up going to see Panionios vs Skoda Xanthi ( yes, the name does come from the Czech car manufacturer, the owner is apparently the biggest reseller of these cars in Greece ! ) .
To get there we took the tram from the centre of Athens, which took about 20 minutes and the ground was a 5-10 minute walk from the stop.

We first joined a queue to buy tickets from a booth, only to be told after waiting for 10 minutes or so that only tickets for the cheap seats were sold there ( 10-15 Euros ), and if we wanted the seats under cover we had to go to a booth on the opposite side of the ground. So we traipsed round the stadium to get seats for 25 Euros. However, in order to buy tickets for football matches in Greece you need to show some form of identification, fortunately we had our passports in our possession and our names and passport numbers were printed on the tickets.
We then had a short walk back to the turnstile entrance, and once inside the ground it wasn’t too clear where to go to get to our seats. The friendly police officers weren’t sure either and eventually pointed us to one of the stairwells, but just before we got there I saw a sign for the bar. As there were still 20 minutes to kick-off we decided to go for a drink and so found ourselves in a large bar which was virtually deserted. A large glass of white wine from a plastic bottle cost only 2.20 euros ( it didn't look too nice but it was fine ) and we sat down in comfort. From our table 90 per cent of the pitch was in view and there was a TV showing the build-up to the match.

The ground had quite a nice main covered stand which was reasonably populated and a large  open stand opposite which was mostly deserted except for a corner ( Section B - 10 Euros ) where the local "boot-boys" gathered. The name of Panionios ( in Greek letters ) was clearly on view written on these seats.
There was nothing behind goal and wall with a mural behind the other. As the stadium also appears to be used for Athletics there was a running track, long jump pit etc.
I decided to take my seat in the main stand to watch the match but Mrs Fatbear decided to stay in the bar to watch through the windows and on TV ( which was delayed by about 5 seconds ).

Despite the match featuring the teams 5th and 8th places in the Greek Premier division the attendance was only 664 in a stadium that holds nearly 12,000 ! The first half was pretty poor, with the main highlight being the 100 or so home fans in the corner Section B signing continuously through the first half despite whatever the action was on the pitch. There appeared to be zero away fans !
Just before half time Panionios took the lead when the goal keeper attempted to push a free-kick straight at him over the bar only to push into the roof of the net. Such a bad effort, match fixing immediately crossed my mind as the home fans went wild !

Two minutes later, the keeper was again picking the ball out of the net, but this time he was blameless as a 25 yard shot from the guy who scored the free-kick, Bakasetas, flew into the bottom corner. That was actually a very good goal.

At half time I joined Mrs Fatbear in the bar for another glass of wine and to watch repeats of the goals on the TV but only a handful of home supporters also came to the bar. At it started to rain I also decide to watch the second half from the bar, and very comfortable it was. There were about six other people doing the same ! During the second half, the bar ran out of white wine so I had to start drinking bottles of beer ( 4 EUR for a half litre bottle ) !
Panionios missed a stack of chances in the second half, with the Skoda keeper redeeming himself with a string of fine saves, before on the stroke of full time Bakasetas skipped past a couple of defenders to complete his hat-trick to seal a 3-0 win. He is now the second highest goal scorer in the Greek top division ( but with only 9 ! ), so expect him to turn up at Fulham or Charlton next season.

The players had their names on their shirts, but for Skoda their foreign players had their names in Roman script eg Wallace, Dimitriov etc but their Greek players names were in Greek alphabet. All the Panionios players names were in Greek.
There was no programme or team sheet but I did pick up a monthly free magazine on the Nea Smyrni suburb in which Panionios play, which had 3 pages in Greek about the football club. No idea what it was saying though !

Overall, despite the bureaucracy in obtaining tickets for the match, in the end it was an enjoyable Saturday afternoon

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvX54PVHBUg

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