Apollon Smyrnis Edge Panathinaikos 15-14 in Water Polo Derby

By Taki Panos

Water polo derbies in Athens are rarely gentle, and Wednesday night's was a proper one. Apollon Smyrnis beat Panathinaikos 15-14 in the Waterpolo League at the Serafeio pool, with Nikola Bogdanovic scoring the winner on a man advantage with 3:03 left, as Gazzetta reported. It was a postponed third-round game, per ERT Sports, and the first big derby of the season, as Athletiko put it. Apollon trailed by three in the first half and by two going into the last period. They still found a way.

For readers new to the club, Apollon Smyrnis carries a lot of history in its name. The sports society was founded in Smyrna, the city now called Izmir, by Anatolian Greeks in 1891, and it was re-established in Athens after the Asia Minor Catastrophe and the population exchange, according to Wikipedia and the club's own history page. Today Apollon and Panathinaikos share the Serafeio pool as their home, so Panathinaikos were only the home side on paper, as Athletiko noted. It has not been a kind run of derbies for green fans, with the football team also losing 1-0 to ten-man Olympiacos recently.

The first half swung back and forth. Christos Laskaridis gave Apollon leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but Dimitris Nikolaidis scored three times as Panathinaikos ran off four straight goals for 5-2, per Gazzetta and sport-fm. Marko Vavic pulled one back, and Apollon goalkeeper Nikos Mitrakis stopped a penalty from Papasifakis. Goals from Mourikis and Laskaridis made it 5-5, Giouvetsis and Dolce restored a 7-5 lead for the Greens, and then Laskaridis and Alkis Lorantos brought Apollon level at 7-7 by half-time, Athletiko reported. Nobody was pulling away.

The third period followed the same pattern. Chalyvopoulos and Giouvetsis kept Panathinaikos a goal ahead at 8-7 and 9-8, Vavic equalised again on a power play, and Mitrakis saved a second penalty, this time from Giouvetsis, before Robopoulos put Apollon in front 10-9, according to Gazzetta. Panathinaikos answered with three in a row from Kourouvanis, Papasifakis and Dolce to lead 12-10 going into the last eight minutes, per Athletiko. In between, Mitrakis also stopped a penalty from Kourouvanis. Three penalties, three saves. That is a goalkeeper having a night.

The fourth period was where the derby was won. Kostas Mourikis cut it to 12-11, and Vavic converted a penalty to tie the game at 12-12 in the first minute of the period, Gazzetta and Athletiko reported. Panathinaikos went back in front, but Nikos Gardikas then took over with two goals in a row, the first from the penalty line, for 14-13. Kalogeropoulos levelled at 14-14 with a man advantage, and Bogdanovic answered the same way for 15-14, his specialty finish according to Gazzetta. Then came three long minutes.

Panathinaikos had three separate chances to tie the game in the closing minutes, but Mitrakis kept every one of them out, as ERT Sports and sport-fm both noted. Gazzetta described two of those stops in detail: a save on a Giouvetsis shot with 58 seconds left while Apollon were a man down, and another on Dolce's equaliser attempt with just four seconds on the clock, per its match report. Anyone who has watched water polo knows how long three minutes can feel when you are protecting a one-goal lead. This one felt like a week.

It is hard to look past Mitrakis as the man of the match. Gazzetta called the 26-year-old goalkeeper the face of the game, pointing to his three saves on three penalty shots and two decisive stops at the end, and went as far as suggesting he deserves a chance with the national team. Athletiko also named him the big MVP of the night, highlighting his penalty saves. Strikers get the headlines in most sports. In water polo, a hot goalkeeper can change a whole season.

Laskaridis was Apollon's top scorer with four goals, with Vavic adding three and Mourikis, Gardikas and Bogdanovic two each, according to the box scores published by sport-fm and Gazzetta. For Panathinaikos, Dimitris Nikolaidis also scored four and Giouvetsis three. The period scores were 5-3, 2-4, 5-3 and 2-5, per ERT Sports, which tells you how often this game turned. All of it came after Apollon had played four straight games in their Euro Cup qualifying group, Gazzetta noted, and Athletiko said Laskaridis simply carried his qualifying form into the league.

On the benches, this was a win for Theo Lorantos over Dimitris Mazis, as both Gazzetta and sport-fm listed the coaches. Gazzetta was blunt about what the result means for Panathinaikos, saying Mazis has a lot of work ahead if the Greens want to reach the point of dethroning their eternal rivals Olympiacos, the Piraeus club whose football history we have covered on our blog. It is early in the season, but defeats like this one tend to stick.

The result leaves Apollon on nine points from three games, joining Olympiacos and Panionios as the only teams still perfect in the league, according to Gazzetta and ERT Sports. Panathinaikos stayed on six points and lost their unbeaten record. Earlier on Wednesday, NO Vouliagmeni won 14-11 at Ydraikos in the Glyfada pool, with Kastrinakis scoring four, leaving both clubs on six points and handing Ydraikos their first league defeat, per ERT Sports and Athletiko. The early table already has a shape.

My take: this was a statement from Apollon, not a fluke. They came back from three down in the first half and two down going into the last period, they did it on tired legs after a run of European games, and they closed it out a man down in the final minute. Panathinaikos have real scoring power, with Nikolaidis and Giouvetsis causing problems all night, but they missed too many big chances against a goalkeeper in form. I would not call Apollon title favourites yet. I would call them a serious problem for anyone who visits the Serafeio this season.

Next up is the big one. Apollon host Olympiacos in the fourth round on Sunday, October 18, at 21:00 Greek time, according to Olympiacos' own water polo fixture page and Dafnostefanomenos, and Athletiko also flagged it as the round's headline game. Olympiacos will be trying to keep their perfect start going. For more Greek results from the pool, the court and the pitch, keep an eye on our Greek Sports section. Sunday should be loud.

Sources: Gazzetta, ERT Sports, sport-fm, Athletiko, Olympiacos SFP, Apollon Smyrnis.

Image: Apollon Smyrnis crest, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).