Apollon Smyrnis goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas has staked a claim at a spot in the Greece squad that will travel to Brazil for the World Cup after shutting out PAOK with his impressive saves at Toumba to secure his struggling team a precious point.

Tzorvas was Greece’s number one goalkeeper in the previous World Cup in South Africa in 2010, being the main keeper of Panathinaikos at the time. His transfer to Palermo in 2011 did not work out and he has now returned to Greece to ply his trade at another Athens-based club, Apollon.

On Sunday in Thessaloniki Tzorvas stopped PAOK’s stars time and again from scoring, in a game that was one-sided given that Apollon played with 10 men for just under an hour. The match at Thessaloniki ended 0-0 and Tzorvas was easily the most valuable player of the weekend in the Super League.

His heroics have also meant that Olympiakos has stretched its lead at the top of the table to eight points. The Reds left it late but beat Asteras Tripolis 2-0 at home, with goals coming from Chori Dominguez from the penalty spot and from Michel Olaitan from close range.

Atromitos stayed in third with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over OFI Crete at Peristeri with goals by Luiz Brito, Vangelis Nastos and Dimitris Papadopoulos.

Panathinaikos played its best game so far this season on Sunday to beat Kalloni 4-0 at the Olympic Stadium of Athens that the Lesvos club uses for its home games. Croat international Danijel Pranjic scored twice, while Markus Berg and Mehdi Abeid also got on the scoresheet. The Greens remained one point behind Atromitos.

Ergotelis and Aris played the most impressive game of the weekend. The match on Saturday at Iraklio was 0-0 up to the 62nd minute and ended 3-3. Ergotelis led 2-0, Aris staged a full comeback to lead 3-2, but conceded an injury-time equalizer.

In other weekend games Levadiakos downed Platanias 2-0, Xanthi thrashed Veria 3-0 and Panthrakikos defeated PAS Giannina 2-0.

On Monday Panetolikos hosts Panionios.