Greece made light work of Gibraltar in their fifth match of the Euros qualifiers, making up for their disappointing defeat to the Netherlands in the earlier match.

The “Ethniki” smashed their opponents 5-0 at “Agia Sophia” Stadium on Monday morning, moving to nine points in Group B and keeping level with the Dutch side, who themselves fought their way to a tight 1-2 away success against Ireland.

Midfielder Dimitris Pelkas opened the scoring early for the Greeks with an easy tap-in after goalkeeper Dayle Coleing parried a cross from left back Dimitris Giannoulis (9′).

Pelkas followed this up with an assist from a corner, delivering the ball to centre half Konstantinos Mavropanos, who headed the ball into the net for his maiden goal for the National team.

Winger Giorgos Masouras struck next in the 70th minute, latching onto a wayward pass backwards from a Gibraltar midfielder and running the ball into the box before slotting it into the bottom left (70′).

Mavropanos then sealed his brace with another header goal, this time meeting captain Anastasios Bakasetas’ cross following a corner (82′).

The hosts topped off an excellent display with one final goal as substitute striker Giorgos Giakoumakis played through Masouras, with the Olympiacos winger hitting it once more into the bottom left corner using his weaker foot (90+1′).

Greece manager Gus Poyet was incredibly pleased with his side’s performance, keeping on top of their opponents for the entire game.

“It was a professional performance and the best part, importantly, is we didn’t stop trying to go forward. It is very easy in these games to stop and play slow but we constantly won the ball and went forward,” Mr Poyet said to media post-match.

This important victory for the “Ethniki” with this being the last easy contest for them in the Euros qualifiers, with the result keeping them within range of the Netherlands (who have played one game less than every other team in Group B).

They will now prepare for three intense challenges in the remaining qualifiers against Ireland, Netherlands, and France, wherein they will almost certainly have to win a minimum of two games if they wish to secure direct qualification to the 2024 European Championships.

Despite this, Mr Poyet reiterated that their focus remains purely on their next clash which will be against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, stating that “first, we must win there”.

The next international matches come in October and the results from those games will likely decide Greece’s Euros fate, whether they will achieve direct qualification or prepare to earn their spot through the play-offs.

Group B standings (*game in hand)

1-France: 15

2-*Netherlands: 9

3-Greece: 9

4-Ireland: 3

5-Gibraltar: 0