World Cup: Georgios Samaras feels cock-a-hoop after Greece beat Nigeria

GEORGIOS SAMARAS savoured Greece's 2-1 win over Nigeria – and claimed the Celtic connection brought his side luck.

A blunder by Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama handed the Greeks victory at the Free State Stadium.

Enyeama, whose team were down to ten men after Sani Kaita was dismissed with them leading 1-0, failed to deal with a soft shot from Alexandros Tziolis in the 72nd minute. The rebound fell to Vasileios Torosidis, who toe-poked home the winner.

The Group B game was played at the home of Bloemfontein Celtic and Hoops striker Samaras felt the venue was a lucky omen for him after Greece lost their opening game to South Korea.

Samaras said: "That was a good sign with the Celtic connection.

"We have had some criticism but that is normal as we did not play well against South Korea. But we stayed positive and proved it against Nigeria."

It was a sad end for Nigeria who had opened the scoring through Kalu Uche's free-kick, only for Greece to equalise through Dimitrios Salpingidis.