 Athanasios Diakos and his band, reinforced by the fighters of Dimitrios Panourgias and Yiannis Dyovouniotis, decided to halt the Ottoman advance into Roumeli by taking defensive positions near Thermopylae.The Greek force of 1500 men was split into three sections - Dyovouniotis was to defend the bridge at Gorgopotamos, Panourgias the heights of Halkomata, and Diakos the bridge at Alamana.Setting out from their camp at Lianokladi, near Lamia, the Ottoman Turks soon divided their force.