Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis ascribed his side’s 2-1 UEFA Euro 2012 success against Israel to “heart and soul” after his penalty took Fernando Santos’ team top of Group F.

The 33-year-old Panathinaikos FC midfielder, who had made his 100th international appearance against Latvia last Friday, kept his nerve to convert from the spot and restore Greece’s lead.

Nikos Spyropoulos’s own goal had cancelled out a Dimitris Salpingidis opener in a close contest at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus.

“This victory was achieved through heart and soul,” said Karagounis, whose goal was the seventh of his Greece career.

“It is not easy to win two games in a row at this level when the pressure is on. Everyone put in a huge amount of effort and we deserved the win.

“From the beginning we knew it would be a difficult match,” added Karagounis.

“We had passion and heart and we managed to get ahead. We conceded an unlucky goal but were able to respond quickly and regain the advantage, and we also had chances to make it 3-1. It’s a very significant victory, because at this point we have a lot of players who have either retired or are injured.”

Despite registering what proved to be the decisive 63rd-minute goal, Karagounis typically refused to take the credit.

“It was important that we won, so it doesn’t matter who scored,” he said. “We showed great desire to win and that is what matters to me.”

With second-ranked Croatia, who beat Israel 2-1 in Tel Aviv last week on Saturday, not in competitive action until November, the result left Greece a point clear at the group summit, with their next fixture against Malta scheduled for March.

“There is still a long way to go,” said Karagounis.

“Already there have been some surprise results so we are not listening to any suggestions that qualification is secure and we will continue with the same mindset.”

Greece 2 – Israel 1

Greece was forced into a change after just 15 minutes due to an injury to Sotiris Ninis, with Olympiakos FC teenager Giannis Fetfatzidis coming on for his second international appearance.

However, that did not affect the hosts’ game plan as PAOK FC striker Salpingidis broke the deadlock, outpacing the Israel defence to control Pantelis Kafes’ threaded pass before lifting the ball over Dudu Aouate and into the net.

Karagounis then tested Aouate’s reflexes with a stinging shot from distance as the hosts sought to turn the screw. Israel’s best chance to level came five minutes before half-time, but Lior Refaelov blazed his free-kick over.