Bulgarian national football team captain Kiril Despodov played the full 90 minutes in PAOK (Thessaloniki)'s 4-1 away win over NFK Volos in the fifth round of the Greek Championship and had some very strong performances.
With the victory, PAOK collected 13 points and leads by 3 ahead of AEK (Athens) and Olympiakos, who have not yet played their matches in the round.
Stefan Schwab opened the scoring for PAOK from a penalty in the 24th minute, which was won by Despodov. Then Thomas Murg, Tyson and a comical goal by the Russian Fyodor Chalov in the second half shaped the visitors' success.
The hosts from Volos were reduced to 10 men in the 34th minute when Argentine defender Franco Ferrari was sent off with two yellow cards. The first card of the Nisica defender was made by Despodov at the penalty 11 minutes earlier.
But the match started with a penalty for the home team from Volos, which goalkeeper Dominique Kotarski saved on Omri Altman's shot. In the 23rd minute, Petros Tsagarakis awarded a penalty kick for PAOK as well, after Despodov entered around the 10-meter mark, left alone against the goalkeeper. Just before handling the ball and shooting, he was knocked down by a Ferrari.
In the 68th minute, Despodov himself scored the ball in the goal of Volos, but the referee saw a foul in the attack and canceled his goal. Otherwise, until the end of the match, he stood at the top of the attack and participated in the combination of Tyson, who a little earlier had signed for 3:1. The Russian Fyodor Chalov scored an extremely strange goal after the home goalkeeper tried to kick the ball forward from his hand in the 89th minute. But it hit the head of Chalov, who did not realize that the ball had entered the goal from the ricochet and the referee awarded a goal.