Greece 3 - Bosnia 2

Reigning European champions Greece kept their nerve to defeat Bosnia-Herzegovina and extend their lead in UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying Group C to four points.

Ten men beaten
Angelos Charisteas's early goal was cancelled out after the break by Mirko Hrgović but he was sent off soon afterwards and Theofanis Gekas and Nikolaos Liberopoulos earned Greece a cushion they needed for the points, given Vedad Ibišević's late strike. Greece sit four points clear of Turkey, held in Moldova today, and five above Norway. Victory in Istanbul on Wednesday would secure the holders' place next June in Austria and Switzerland.

Greece ahead
Greece returned to Athens after two games in Crete and were soon ahead when Charisteas rose to head Christos Patsatzoglou's cross against the bar and then prodded in the rebound. The lead was safe until half-time despite two long-range efforts from Zlatan Muslimović which Antonios Nikopolidis was able to deal with.

Short-lived joy
Yet the goalkeeper was beaten nine minutes into the second half as Hrgović's left-footed free-kick curled into the top corner. His joy was short-lived, however, as he received a straight red card two minutes later for a foul on Angelos Basinas. Greece swiftly made the extra man count when Gekas beat the offside trap and calmly shot in.

Liberopoulos clincher
Liberopoulos, a second-half substitute for Charisteas, then added a third goal to seemingly wrap up the contest with 17 minutes left, smashing the ball into the roof of the net after Gekas's shot had cannoned back off an upright. Ibišević ensured a nervy last few moments though by reducing the deficit in the second minute of stoppage time with a neat finish from a loose ball. But Greece held on to claim the victory which all but ended their visitors' hopes.

Cyprus struck three times in 20 second-half minutes to deservedly defeat Wales and secure a third consecutive UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying Group D win.

Okkas double
Both these teams were coming off fine results – Cyprus having enjoyed two straight defeats of San Marino and Wales a 5-2 success in Slovakia. The visitors led at the break here through James Collins but Cyprus always had the better of the play and Yiannis Okkas scored twice to turn the game before substitute Konstantinos Charalampidis headed a goal that took his country above their opponents into fifth place.

Wales ahead
The hosts were without injured striker Michalis Konstantinou yet were on top from the start with Okkas dictating proceedings. However, it was the man charged with watching Okkas in the Wales defence who broke the deadlock: Gareth Bales's free-kick from the left found Collins unmarked at the far post and the West Ham United FC player's angled shot nestled inside the opposite side-netting.

Bellamy denied
Despite that setback, Cyprus kept up the pressure and Alexandros Garpozis headed at goalkeeper Danny Coyne, while Collins limped off just before the break. Okkas had a goal ruled out for offside early in the second period and Wales nearly punished Cyprus again on the break but captain Craig Bellamy's shot was kept out by the diving Antonis Georgallides.

Turnaround
Just before the hour, the match changed as Efstathios Aloneftis's free-kick from the right eluded Coyne and was nodded in by Okkas. The No9 put Cyprus ahead nine minutes later when Yiasoumi Yiasoumi's free-kick went loose and Aloneftis touched the ball across for Okkas to smash in from close range. Charalampidis completed the victory after fellow substitute Yiasoumi had headed Garpozis's centre back across goal.

UEFA Cup First Round, 4^th October 2007

 Thursday sees the return leg of the UEFA Cup first round with Tottenham having a 6-1 advantage from the first leg.  While Tottenham are languishing in the bottom three of the Premiership with just 6 points from eight games, Anorthosis are topping the Cyprus ‘A’ Division table with 10 points from 4 games.

Anorthosis continued their good start to the season with a 1-0 victory over Olympiakos on Saturday, whilst Tottenham began their match on Sunday with a parade of stars as they celebrated 125 years of football.  The party nearly went very flat as they had to fight back from 4-1 down to achieve an amazing 4-4 draw with Aston Villa.

The kick-off time for the match has been changed from 9pm to 5.45pm local time (3.45pm UK). Advice from the Tottenham website for fans travelling to Cyprus is that they MUST NOT travel without a match ticket. Tickets will NOT be available on the night to Spurs fans. However, the Cyprus Spurs Supporters Club has acquired 2,000 tickets from Anorthosis for fans in Cyprus.  Further information can be found on www.spurs.com.cy

Tottenham’s website goes on to say that they are aware that some supporters have arranged to travel to this match with Cyprus Airways and that their plane is scheduled to land in Cyprus at 3.55pm local time on Thursday afternoon. Given the kick-off change, a special bus will now be made available to take supporters from the airport straight to the stadium, free of charge.

Fans will be searched on arrival by the local Police and should be aware that items such as alcohol, lighters and any item they consider to be offensive will be confiscated. There is a strict zero policy on drugs.

For those fans not traveling to Cyprus, the match will be televised by Channel 5.