Partizan Belgrade on their first-ever visit to Athens had a great start and took an early 12-0 lead. AEK forward Georgios Pappas got the score back to 12-6, crashing over from close range, much to the excitement if the vocal AEK fans. Partizan kept the pressure on and were clinical in their execution, taking a 24-6 lead going into the halftime break.
National team winger Iordanis Triantafyllou caught the high bomb and scored the first try of the second half, bringing the score to 24-12.
Partizan responded soon after and the score remained 30-12 for most of the second half. AEK were pressing hard on the Partizan line when suddenly, Partizan forward Velibor Karanovic took the intercept and raced away to score a 90-metre try. Final score 36-12.
AEK captain, Dimitris Kalderis commented: “We are proud of our effort today as we fought against a very strong opponent. It is our first year playing Balkan Super League and we are happy with our progress overall. We are disappointed we could not get the win for our amazing fans, but we are determined to keep training and working hard to improve for the future.”
Partizan team manager Kosta Stojkovic commented: “AEK were very physical today and made us work hard for the win. The fans were great and the atmosphere was electric!”
Partizan will now travel to Montenegro next weekend and a win there will earn them a spot in the BSL Grand Final.
AEK will now host Red Star Belgrade on the 24/06 in Athens.
MATCH DETAILS
AEK tries: Pappas (23), Triantafyllou (48).
Conversions: Kleitsas 1/1, Lagoussis 1/1.
Partizan tries: Marinkovic (2), Tamburic (9), Abidinovic (32), Pavlovic (36), Carapic (60), Karanovic (72).
Conversions: Stojiljkovic 6/6
Referee: Behzad Jalili (Turkey)
MVP: Velibor Karanovic
Crowd: 396
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