PAOK Salonica’s title hopes in tatters after heavy defeat

By Graham Wood

ATHENS (Reuters) - PAOK Salonica's dreams of a first title since 1985 were in tatters on Sunday after a crushing 4-0 loss at Atromitos Athinon left Angelos Anastasiadis' team 11 points adrift of leaders Olympiakos Piraeus.

PAOK, who had topped the standings in the first half of the season, suffered their biggest defeat this term against an Atromitos side for whom new coach Nikos Nioplias was making his debut in the dugout.

Goals by Elini Dimoutsos, Javier Umbides, Kostas Katsouranis and Stefano Napoleoni secured the points against 10-man PAOK, who could not live with the hosts after having Stefanos Athanasiadis sent off for a second booking after 42 minutes.

The result means Olympiakos, who defeated relegation-threatened Ergotelis 3-0 24 hours earlier, have stretched their lead over PAOK, who are in third place.

The race for the title is now a two-horse affair with second-placed Panathinaikos six points behind after they came from 2-1 down to defeat OFI Crete 3-2 on Sunday.

Panathinaikos had taken a 1-0 lead at OFI through NIkos Karelis, but OFI ended the first half on top via a Manolis Moniakis free-kick and a Giorgi Merebashvili penalty.

However, the Greens earned the points with second-half strikes by Danijel Pranjic and Karelis to stay in touch with their arch rivals Olympiakos ahead of a mouthwatering derby clash between the top two next weekend.

(Editing by Ken Ferris)