Greece overcome Lithuania

Second-half goals from Sotiris Ninis and Kostas Mitroglou gave Greece their second straight win in Group G with a 2-0 success over Lithuania.

Second-half goals from Sotiris Ninis and Kostas Mitroglou gave Greece their second straight win in World Cup qualifying Group G with a 2-0 success over Lithuania in Piraeus. Building on a narrow win in Latvia in their opening group game on Friday, the Greeks dominated from the start with Theofanis Gekas flashing the first chance wide with a fifth-minute header. The visitors, who opened with a draw against Slovakia, responded with an effort from Saulius Mikoliunas which brought the first save out of Greek goalkeeper Orestis Kamezis. The home side struggled to make another impression until the 26th minute when Ninis delivered a curling free-kick which was superbly tipped over by Lithuania keeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas. Karcemarskas was on hand again in the 33rd minute to save a 20-yard effort from Giannis Maniatis, and he came to Lithuania's rescue again on 42 minutes when he parried a right-foot drive from Kostas Fortounis. Kostas Katsouranis sent an ambitious lob over the bar from 20 yards in the last action of the first half, and Karcemarskas produced more heroics one minute into the second half when he parried a close-range header from Mitroglou. After Alexis Tziolis blazed wide, Greece finally broke the deadlock on 55 minutes when a header from Mitroglou hit the post and the rebound fell for Ninis to drive home from 12 yards. Greece made the game safe in the 72nd minute when Mitroglou got the goal his performance deserved, firing home low following a ball into the box from Ninis.