Euro 2012 Match Reports: Poland 1-1 Greece

In a match that looked like it would spur the joint host nation to push on and challenge in their group, Poland were soon brought crashing back to earth by a lacklustre Greece team who at times, looked like they should be playing Sunday league football, as far away from the international stage as possible.

Poland were clearly the better team from the off, they looked a sleeker team than the Greeks and were able to put a few passes together, the latter can't be said for the team in blue. Poland pressed and were rewarded after some repetitive sloppy play from their opposition. A cross from the right wing was calmly headed home by Lewandowski after the Greek keeper, Chalkias was left in no man's land.

It looked from then on that the crowd would push the Poles on to their first victory in this years competition and that task soon appeared easier after Sokratis Papastathopoulos was sent off for two very harsh yellow cards. The Greeks seemed dejected and you sensed that their tournament may have been over before half time.

But that wasn't to be the case as a slightly rejuvenated Greece looked to push for the equaliser, and that came in the 51st minute when super sub Salpingidis entered the fray to slot home after some sloppy play from Scezney. It wasn't to be the Arsenal goalkeeper's final mistake of the day as he was sent off shortly afterwards for tripping Salpingidis who really changed the game after his introduction.

It looked as if the Greeks would snatch the 3 points from the jaws of defeat, but the captain's penalty was saved by the replacement keeper Tyton who looked solid between the sticks.

A point was probably a fair result for the two teams but that has severely hindered both team's chances of qualifying in a group that is completed by Russia and the Czech Republic.