ATHENS, March 24 (Reuters) - Turkey thrashed European champions Greece 4-1 in their Euro 2008 qualifier to move three points clear at the top of Group C on Saturday.

Turkey went in level at halftime before three goals in the

second period wrapped up the points and gave them the edge over

their Greek rivals with a maximum 12 points from four games.

'We have gained a great advantage after beating our main

group opponents today. It gives us some credit and we're allowed

to slip up in the future,' said Turkey coach Fatih Terim.

He told reporters his team responded admirably after Greece

took the lead, keeping their cool and growing in confidence.

'I told my players everything would go well (and) not to

worry even if they lost but they turned it around,' Terim said.

Greece scored after just five minutes when defender Sotiris

Kyrgiakos turned and drilled the ball past goalkeeper Volkan

Demirel after a Giorgos Karagounis cross into the box.

'We started well, went ahead but for some inexplicable

reason pulled back and allowed our opponents to control the game

and gain confidence,' Greece coach Otto Rehhagel said. 'We

didn't keep them on the ropes like a boxer when we led 1-0.'

Turkey kept finding space on the left flank from which to

launch counter attacks and looked dangerous despite the noise

from a fiery 33,000 sell-out crowd at the Karaiskakis stadium.

The visitors almost equalised in the 13th minute when Tuncay

Sanli raced through only to see his curling shot from the edge

of the box fly past Antonis Nikopolidis's left post.

Sanli did level the scores 14 minutes later when he got the

ball in the box, turned past two defenders and fired home.

Gokhan Unal added a second in the 55th before Metin Tumer

made it three with a solo effort from outside the box with 20

minutes left.

Gokdeniz Karadeniz scored the fourth in the 81st within a

minute of coming on with a sparkling sprint down the left before

he slotted the ball past Nikopolidis as the fans started to

leave.

'I never expected such a scoreline when playing Greece at

home,' Terim said. 'But that is the beauty of this game. Now the

match against Norway (on Wednesday) becomes more important

because we can move further ahead.'

He did have a word of consolation though for Rehhagel, who

was the hero after leading Greece to the title at Euro 2004 but

faced the wrath of the fans after the final whistle.

'No coach should go through such a night as tonight,' Terim

said.

Rehhagel added: 'Now we have to stomach this defeat and

prepare for Malta on Wednesday.'