Local Football:

Thiagoras 0 v PAO Gouves 1

As most derbys go, this one was no exception . . . very little football played and niggling fouls. It started well with a good shot by Thiagoras forward, Pavlos Moraitakis, but PAO's goalkeeper, Yiannis Mahairas, was equal to the challenge. Thiagoras had the ball in the net after six minutes but was ruled offside. In the 9^th minute there was a terrific shot and goal by PAO's Konstantinos Kastellianakis. A shot by Kostas Thelistathis, but again a good save by Mahairas followed. Then Dimitris Karagounis was brought down on the edge of the penalty area, but Dimitris Somarakis shot over the bar from the free kick. The match was starting to get a little niggly now with some hefty tackles going in, followed by a few yellow cards. In the dying minutes of the first half Pavlos Moraitakis was brought down inside PAO's penalty area, but the appeal was turned down by the referee. The second half started with most of the play in midfield. There was some very poor refereeing now for both sides. In the last ten minutes of the game, Thiagoras pushed forward and there was a brave save by Mahairas off a shot from Somarakis. Towards the end, two point blank saves from the PAO defenders standing on the goal line kept their fragile lead until the final whistle.

The Khronicles "Man of the Match" is PAO Gouves goalkeeper, Yiannis Mahairas, for keeping them in the match with brave goalkeeping.

AEK 2 v Theilina 1

Both defences began working well. A cynical foul on AEK's Stelios Sitherithis was lucky to receive only a yellow card. A good through ball by Manas Pitsos resulted in a corner, then a great pass by Arian Tzertzi to Drintan Zaneparis whose shot was well saved by the Thilina goalkeeper, Vlahabas. Some good football from AEK, and the pressure started to pay off. Nice run by Zaneparis but the shot was just wide. A brilliant run by Sitherithis ended with an equally brilliant parry from Vlahabas, which resulted in Sitherithis having another shot which struck a defender's arm, resulting in a penalty. This was taken by Konstantinos Pyrovolakis, who scored from the spot. AEK now pushed forward with Pitsos and Tzertzi causing a lot of problems for Thilina. There were four corners in a row but Thilina defended well. In the second half AEK went straight into attack and a run by Zaneparis ended in a free kick taken by Sitherithis, who kicked to Tzertzi, who hit the side netting. From another corner, there was a terrific shot by Tzertzi but equal to it again was Vlahabas. With AEK still attacking, a goal from nothing came for Thilina, scored by Karanthino in the 66^th minute. There were a lot of hard tackles from both sides, and in the 75^th minute a diving header by Drintan Zaneparis made the score 2-1 to AEK. After this, AEK were on the defence with strong attacking from Thilina, and a strong appeal for a penalty from their players and supporters was ignored by the referee. This win keeps AEK on joint top position with 31 points.

The Khronicles "Man of the Match" was Manas Pitsos who controlled the midfield and was strong in attack.

Football:

Greek striker Dimitris Salpigidis (Panathinaikos) was voted the best Greek footballer for 2008 by his colleagues at the Panhellenic Association of Professional Footballers. Olympiakos player, Antonis Nikopolidis, won the award for best goalkeeper and A.E.K. coach, Dusan Bajevic, won the best manager award for his work at Aris. The vote for the best foreign player was a tie so the award is shared between Darko Kovacevic (Serbia) from Olympiakos and Ismael Blanco (Argentina) of A.E.K.

Olympiakos:

Spanish coach Ernesto Valverde will be invited to sign a new one-year contract with Olympiakos. He has been backed by the board, the players and one of the most demanding set of fans in Europe.

Best Sportswoman:

The Greek Sports Journalists Award for the best sportswoman went to Piyi Devetzi. This is the fourth year in succession that the triple jump champion has won the competition. The men's award went to tae-kwon-do silver Olympic medallist, Alexandros Nikoladis and the best team award went to the lightweight double sculls crew of Vassilis Polymeros and Dimitris Mouyios.

Volleyball:

The Greek national volleyball team had a good draw in this year's continental tournament. They are drawn against European champions Spain, along with Slovenia and Slovakia, in the first round of the finals to be held in Turkey starting September 4.  

Swimming:

Apostolis Tsangarakis has broken three Greek records within 48 hours at the European Short-Course Championships in Croatia. The 26 year old swimmer broke the 50 metre freestyle twice in the heats and then he broke the 100 metres freestyle clocking 48.57.

Sport to watch in January:

OFI and Ergotelis matches:

January 3: Ergotelis v Panathrakikos;
January 4: PAOK v OFI;
January 11: OFI v Iraklis; Aris Salonika v Ergotelis;
January 18: OFI v Panionios; Levadiakos v Ergotelis;
January 25: Olympiakos v OFI; Ergotelis v Panathinaikos.

All matches at 17.00 hours

Golf:

January 26 to February 1: Dubai Desert Classic, Emirates Gold Club.

Motor Racing:

January 3 to 18: 2009 Dakar Rally. Argentina and Chile.

Water Polo:

January 14:LEN Trophy quarter finals. Panionios (Greece) v Posillipo (Italy). Naples, Italy.