Greek second division club Panserraikos qualified for the quarter-finals of the Greek cup. Other clubs who qualified along with Panserraikos include the likes of PAOK and OFI. PAOK were playing against AEK and they needed the help of a controversial penalty in order to get past the first knockout stages.

The quarter-finals of the competition will present a great opportunity for second division club Panserraikos to show what they can do at this stage of the competition. They will also be looking to use this experience to guide them to the top flight of Greek football.

PAOK secured the lead in the first half after a controversial penalty gave them the opportunity to do so. They extended the lead in the second half after Stefanos Athanasiadis scored the goal. The 2-0 score was enough to beat AEK, which also eliminated them from the competition. Following the match, there was some disagreement between AEK and the referees of the match.

Panserraikos have been known for quite some time as the giant killing club, and they cemented their reputation by beating Xanthi 2-0 in an away match. Xanthi were playing at home, but were still not able to get past the second division club in the form of Panserraikos.

Marcelinho opened the scoring for Xanthi early in the first half. Many would have thought that Xanthi would go on to register a few more goals, but Panserraikos clearly had other ideas. Filipe da Costa helped Panserraikos come into the match with a wonderful goal in the first half itself.

The comeback was completed in the second half when Filipe da Costa scored his second goal of the night to give Panserraikos an unlikely victory against the favourites Xanthi, which takes them into the quarter-finals of the Greek cup.

If they make it into the Final they will automatically qualify for the UEFA Cup next season, though the odds of them winning that too aren’t up just yet at betfair.com!

This cup run offers the Greek players at Panserraikos one last chance to make it into the national side ahead of the European Championships. More stunning goals and performances could see the likes of Felipe and da Costa heading off to Poland / Ukraine, though what effect it will have on Greece’s Euro 2012 betting odds remains to be seen.