1.7 Passports at the ready

Welcome back again, We are now into season 6 in Greece and this summer I felt like we made the right moves to get us into the European places this coming season.

Pre-Season

Pre-season has become a bit stale for me now, It is just about getting fitness and morale up, 6 games 5 wins 33 scored 4 conceded. All the new signings have settled in well.

September

We were up and running fast, Boeckh grabbed his first of the season away vs Panathinakos early on and a late Kingsley goal gave us the 3 points. Boeckh’s made it 2 in 2 to secure a 1-0 win vs Xanthi, AEK brought us back down to earth with a bang as the beat us 3-1 with Boeckh scoring for a 3rd game in a row. A Boeckh double helped us beat Levadeiakos 6-1 with Ioannidis x2, Lazetic and Libert all on the score sheet. A good start to the season with 9 points from 12 and Boeckh up and running with 5 goals already.

October

5 games in and Boeckh keeps up his record of at least a goal a game we beat Aris 2-1 with Lazetic getting the winner. Boeckh was rested in the cup but we still ran out 1-0 winners over Apollon Smyrnis thanks to a 1st minute goal from Ioannidis. Boeckh’s rest went well as he came back with a bang scoring a hat trick after Lazetic put us 1-0 up away vs Atromitos in a 4-1 win. Volos were no match for the inform Lamia as we beat them 3-0 with Vasllij and Ioannidis scoring either side of Boeckh grabbing his 10th in 7 league games so far. Panathinakos then knocked us out of the cup but with the form we are in I massively rotated.

November

an 11th goal of the season for Boeckh secured a 1-1 draw away at Panetolikos. We followed that up with a 2-0 win over OFI with Boeckh blanking for the first time this season But Vaslij and Lazetic stepped up to grab the goals. Another 2-0 win this time beating Ionikos Vaslij was on the scoresheet again and Knezevic from the spot. Boeckh grabbed his 12th of the season helping secure a 1-0 win over Asteras Tripolis to secure 10 points from 12 this month.

December

We’re doing really well this season, Another Knezevic penalty and another Boeckh winner (13) saw us secure a 2-1 win over PAOK. Olympiakos came to town for their annual three points with Ioannidis scoring in a 2-1 loss. We bounced back with a 5-1 win over Panathinakos thanks to goals from Vaslij, Knezevic, Lazetic and a Gavric double. We then went one better with a 5-0 win over Xanthi, Knezevic finally scoring from open play beefore Lazetic got a hat trick and Boeckh (14) made it 5 just after half time.

January

Boeckh’s 15th of the season helped us secure a 1-1 draw with AEK. A 4-1 win over Levadeiakos with a Lazetic double followed by Boeckh’s 16th and Ioannidis scoring late. Another Lazetic double to make it 12 goals this season for him and Boeckh’s 17th of the season helped us to a 3-1 win over Aris. A equaliser from new signing Kolovos (more in a minute on him) and a goal from Gavric helped us get back from going 2-0 down to secure a 2-2 draw vs Atromitos. We followed that up with a 1-0 win over Volos Boeckh getting his 18th and then Panetolikos held us to a 1-1 draw with Boeckh getting his 19th so far.

Winter Transfer Window

Petarakis left on a free with 6 months left on his deal, Halimi wasn’t getting a game with the new signings keeping him out so he joined Volos on loan and Pages never progressed so we sold him to Talleres for a small profit.

Politis joins as our experienced back up keeper on a free and despite playing every minute this season Vaslij’s club recalled him because he was playing as an Inverted winger not an Winger as agreed so Kolovos and Tramoni both joined to help us with wide options for the rest of the season as we continue our european push. Tramoni on an 18 month loan.

February

OFI beat us 2-1 with Tramoni getting his first for the club. Ionikos then felt our anger as we beat them 3-0 with goals from Gavric, Knezevic and Mitoglou. Asteras Tripolis were then beaten 3-1 with goals from Briek, Mitoglou and Knezevic and we rounded up the month scoring 3 again with a 3-0 win over PAOK with goals from Gavric, Lazetic (13) and Boeckh (20) all scoring.

March

What is this? a win vs Olympiakos? no way! yep two late goals from Knezevic and Ioannidis secured us the points after Boeckh got us in the game with his 21st of the season. AEK then beat us 3-1 Boeckh (22) and Aris beat us 2-1 with Knezevic scoring the goal

A second place finish in the regular season, its a bit tight at the top between 4 teams but with a 20 point gap between us and Panetolikos in 5th we have surely secured 4th place and european football at least right?

April

The gap between us and Panetolikos widens after we beat them 2-1 with Boeckh grabbing his 23rd and Kolovos on the scoresheet. Kingsley scored as we lost 3-1 to PAOK and then Olympiakos beat us 2-0 before we smashed AEK 5-2 with Boeckh getting a double (25) Tramoni, Lazetic and Briek all on the scoresheet too. Aris were then beaten 4-1 With goals from Lazetic, Knezevic, Boeckh(26) and Kolovos.

May

We beat Panetolikos 3-0 with goals from Tramoni, Boeckh (27) and Lazetic to secure European football for PAS Lamia 1964 for the first time in their history. We followed this up with a 2-1 loss to PAOK with Boeckh getting his final tally to 28 goals for the season before Olympiakos smashed us 5-1 just to remind us who the kings of Greece are.

We have done it, a top 4 finish and a Europa Conference playoff spot was secured.

Volos got relegated and Panathinkos and OFI had bad seasons by their standards.

Our best ever season and a massive 23 points better than ever before. Lamia have finally taken that next step.

Thomas Boeckh

A massive season for Boeckh made the difference for us he topped all the charts and records.

Just about the best striker in Greek football and he was rewarded with International call up too.

Behind every leading man there is a supporting cast and Bojat and Lazetic set up 25 goals between them this season.

Somehow he wasn’t the best signing of the season though, or even in my own team. I think the above showed what a difference our recruitment drive last summer made. It gave us that bit of quality we were missing.

Summer Transfer window

Halimi left us after a successful loan, Tspras left on a free before Ioannidis was snapped up for €2.5m, Phiri never made the break through I’d hoped for so he and Anyfantis left for minimal fees.

After last seasons recruitment drive of mainly loans I knew this wasn’t a long term solution so we needed some players in to fill the gaps. Pitsinos came in on a free from Olympiakos as a back up for Boeckh, Vida come in as a back up in centre midfield for Samari who we got on a years loan. Anastatsiou and Elmer are our new wide men replacing the departing loanees. and Correa replaces Lazetic as Boeckhs strike partner. Tzolakis joins us again on another loan deal.

I’m happy with the summer business, I feel like we have managed to maintain the quality we had from the loans and also bring in players who have resell value in the future. Next season sees our first attempt at european football and we start with a hard playoff game

Hajduk Spilt wont be an easy game but we have to start somewhere. Hopefully this next season we can take the next step to second or third plce but I think a title challenge is still beyond us at the moment.

Thanks everyone for reading
Dan