Day 6, Group A – Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) v Vouliagmeni (GRE) 14-6
Olympiacos didn’t let its domestic arch-rival into the game for a single moment. The Greek champion set the pace right from the beginning, defended extremely well and attacked very efficiently. They netted their first three man-ups – Marton Vamos hit two, then Andro Buslje added another one – to take a 3-0 lead in 3:10 minutes. The fourth came early in the second but more importantly, they shut out Vouliagmeni in the first 11:13 minutes.
Though Marios Kapotsis managed to break the ice finally, Vouliagmeni still trailed 6-2 at halftime and soon it was 7-2 after Filip Filopovic’s blast in a man-up. The No. 2 Greek side had a better spell a bit later, they came back to 8-5 with a couple of man-up goals but Christodoulos Kolomvos’ fine centre-shot made it 9-5 after 22 seconds in the fourth to send a strong message that Olympiacos were no way letting this match turn into a dogfight.
They kept their opponents under pressure and despite Panagiotis Tzortzatos delivered some fine saves, later he couldn’t do much when the hosts top guns kept on gunning their bullets. Vouliagmeni’s defence crashed once more and conceded five more goals, including two from action in the last 90 seconds.
Indeed, this outcome was not surprising as Olympiacos could hardly be challenged at home, they downed Vouliagmeni 3-0 last May in the championship final – though none of those matches were so lop-sided as this one.
How they saw it
Igor Milanovic, coach, Olympiacos
“At least during the last ten day we could practice with all players on board, no one was missing with health issues. At the end, the difference was much bigger compared to the intensity of this fight and I’m hundred per cent sure that our next game in the cup will be much tighter. Congrats to my players, apart from some minutes in the third period they followed all instructions, played well in defence, especially in man-down, had a beautiful rhythm during the game so I’m satisfied with their performance.”
Vladimir Vujasinovic, coach, Vouliagmeni
Was not available for comment.
