Rueters
Thursday, October 26, 2000; 3:08 PM

ATHENS, Oct 26 – AEK Athens brushed aside Danish champions Herfolge 5-0 in their UEFA Cup second round first leg match with a storming second half performance featuring four goals from former Greek international Demis Nikolaidis.

John Jensen's Herfolge had struggled to contain their attacking hosts in the first half, showing little in attack and inviting AEK to come at them.

The recipe worked until the break, largely thanks to some wayward finishing from the Athens team.

But Nikolaidis had clearly adjusted his sights after the break and had claimed a hat-trick within 20 minutes of the restart.

Former Seville star Vassilis Tsartas can claim much of the credit setting up four of the five goals with a succession of accurate crosses and through balls.

Ironically, the pick of the goals came from Greek international Akis Zikos who fired in a right-foot thunderbolt from 25 metres just past the hour.

The result means that barring a miracle in the return in Denmark, the Greek Cup winners will be through to the third round of the competition for the second year in succession.