Olympiakos beat Tripolis 3-1 to stretch lead at the top

ATHENS: Olympiakos Piraeus's Kostas Fortounis notched a second-half double as they took advantage of a slip by rivals Panathinaikos to extend their lead at the top of the Super League with a 3-1 home win over Asteras Tripolis on Sunday.

Marco Silva's side, who have won all 11 of their league games this season, had to work hard against a determined Tripolis outfit but Greece midfielder Fortounis broke their resistance with a 73rd minute penalty and another goal 10 minutes from time at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium.

Nigerian striker Ideye Brown added a third for the hosts four minutes from time before Tripolis pulled a goal back in the third minute of added time through Apostolos Giannou who followed up to score after his penalty was saved.

The result means the Red and Whites have a maximum 33 points and are 10 clear of AEK Athens, who replaced Panathinaikos in second spot with a 2-0 home win over Panaitolikos.

Panathinaikos' new Italian coach Andrea Stramaccioni saw his side suffer a 1-0 defeat at Iraklis in Salonika 24 hours earlier on his debut with Apostolos Vellios scoring after 23 minutes.

The defeat saw the Greens slip to fourth place, 11 points adrift of Olympiakos and level on 22 points with Panionios who are third after a 2-0 home win against PAS Giannina.

Panathinaikos' season could go from bad to worse with the outcome of the Super League and Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) disciplinary hearings on the violence which forced the cancellation of last weekend's Athens derby against Olympiakos expected on Monday.

The Greens have laid the blame on referee Andreas Pappas for what they have described as a "totally wrong and inexplicable decision" to cancel the match, which resulted in violent rioting by the home fans at the Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium.