Panathinaikos in third place, as justice indicts 16 for game rigging

Petric rose to meet a corner kick from Emir Bajrami in the 81st minute, breaking the deadlock after a frustrating evening in Agrinio, western Greece, where the Athens club waste a string of chances.

Asteras put in another impressive performance with a 2-0 away win over Niki Volos to rise to fourth place, while rivals on the island of Crete, OFI and Ergotelis, drew 0-0.

Panathinaikos was just a point behind defending champion Olympiakos, which lost 2-1 at home to leader PAOK on Wednesday. The Thessaloniki side leads by five points.

Indictments for match rigging

In an another development, deputy prosecutor Aristeidis Koreas has indicted 16 people accused of match fixing, among them referees, members of the Greek Football Federation and two club executives, one of which is rumored to be a high profile one.

Koreas has been investigating the case from 2011 to 2013 and has compiled a 173 page report. According to it, clubs have been relegated and others won millions of euros by participating in European games, through the match fixing process.

The names of the 16 individuals have not been released to the press, but they have already given testimony to the prosecutor, before indictment.

It appears the match fixing ring was well organized and was using bribery and intimidation to achieve its goals. In the case of referee Petros Konstandeas, reportedly the former didn't work, so the latter was engaged. As a result, the Kalamata referee saw his business burned to the ground.

The case will be assigned to a special prosecutor for corruption cases, due to the alleged involvement of Football Federation members. Corruption in Greek football has been speculated for decades, but few cases have been made and none of them has seen the inside of a courtroom due to typical Greek justice gridlock.