ANKARAGUCU - GIMME FIVE !!!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

I think we will have to go back (a long way ?) in time to discover the last time ANKARAGUCU won FIVE straight matches.

The Turkish Cup result today was.........

Genclerbirligi 0 ANKARAGUCU 1

Three league wins and two cup wins on the trot for ANKARAGUCU is pretty impressive, especially after their abysmal start to the season.

All the kankas were heads down at work today, with the exception of yours truly. So, I visited Maniac Kanka Harun in his Sports Shop...... advertisement time...

Esse Spor, Menekse Sokak, Balkanoglu Carsisi, No 7/32, Kizilay.

and tried to convince him that the cup match was more important than selling sports kit. That took all of 30 seconds and then we were off to Chopin for some `refreshments` !!

Arriving at the Stadium we forgot (olde age ??!!) that it was an away match for ANKARAGUCU and so we had to walk round to the other side but with only 15 minutes to KO time. We therefore decided to go to Kapali and stand with the Pegasus Group. That was an added bonus because I met Volkan (Leader) and lots of my old Pegasus friends from the good old days in Sahil.

The match kicked off with ANKARAGUCU again starting like an express train and they opened the scoring after only 5 minutes before we had time to catch our breath.

An attacking move down the left and a cross into Bebbe who did well to lose his marker. The goalkeeper committed himself but was left fumbling as Bebbe cut the ball back for the incoming Tita and he almost burst the net with his gift from Bebbe.

Jumping up and down and singing time and we were all in full voice.

ANKARAGUCU continued to press forward with the ocassional breakaway from Gencler, but in all honesty there should have been more goals from ANKARAGUCU. The fact that Ceyhun and Mustafa (the 2 top goalscorers) were being rested perhaps contributed to that situation.

Gencler started the 2nd half in more determined fashion but most of their efforts were long range. There was one scare for ANKARAGUCU though when Serkan came running off his line to punch a clearance but it went straight to a Gencler forward who drove it in for a sure fire goal. However, the ever reliable Sedat was on the line to head clear.

ANKARAGUCU's Murat had 2 clear cut chances to put the game beyond doubt but declined to score at the invitation of an open goal. He decided to blast the ball over the bar !!

The noise in the 2nd half was unbelieveable. I kid you not that the Gecikondu boys (and us in Pegasus) sang the same song about following ANKARAGUCU through wind, rain, snow and any other weather front for the whole of the 2nd half. You really had to be there to appreciate the passion of these supporters. I can't find the words to do them justice.

Oh...... sorry.... I forgot to mention the Gencler supporters who cheered their team when they came out for the 2nd half. Maniac Kanka and I counted the supporters but we disagreed on the number. He said 38, but I'm sure it was only 37 !!!!

The last 10 minutes of the match was all about ANKARAGUCU holding on to what they had and that really wasn't a problem for Serkan, Sedat, Emre, Dereli and Petrov. However, we did receive a few yellow cards for time wasting tactics.... tut tut tut !!!

It was off to the Cappadokia after the match for more amber nectar and some comisserations to the owner who supports Gencler. He was asking why Oz Kanka was absent ??!!!

ANKARAGUCU now lead the group stage with 6 points from 2 matches and are looking good to join either Gencler or Besiktas in the final stages. Incidentally, Buca of the 2nd Division beat Rize today to more or less eliminate Rize from further interest in the group.

Wednesday afternoon footie is not quite the same as weekend footie but there was a fair sized ANKARAGUCU crowd today to at least bring some atmosphere to the match.

Back to league footie at the weekend.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim