Greetings Kankas and Kankies.
Apologies for the same olde cliché of ……… a match of 2 halves !!
ANKARAGUCU 1 Ankaraspor 1
Yesterday on a freezing cold (-10 degrees C), but sunny, Ankara afternoon, Maniac Kanka and Yankee Kanka met up at the Cappadokia Bar, but I was 1st into the Stadium direct from work to see the players warming-up. It has to be said (before someone else says it) that this was a first for Eski Kanka ! First time into the Stadium without any alcohol on his breath !!
We were joined by Rip Off Kanka and Battle Damaged Kanka prior to KO and the Stadium was almost full at the ANKARAGUCU ends. Maniac Kanka counted 38 Ankaraspor fans !!! Lots of pre-match singing and euphoria with lots of anti-Gokcek chants, which was to be expected facing the hated Ankaraspor !!
Into the match and it was all Ankaraspor with ANKARAGUCU pinned back into defence and I was screaming for them to break out of defence and attack (nothing new there I can hear you say !)
ANKARAGUCU was attacking into the Gecikondu end and we only saw 2 serious attempts at goal in the 1st half. However, it has to be said that Ankaraspor’s attacks, although frequent and dangerous, were not producing anything. Also, the usual long balls up to Bebbe and Jaba were being dealt with at ease by the Ankaraspor defence !
Ahem…… that was until Ankaraspor prised open the ANKARAGUCU defence after only 15 minutes with a classic move.
The ball was played down the left wing with the ANKARAGUCU defence bunched together in the centre. The ball was swung over high to the unmarked Murat Tosun on the right who had all the time in the world to control the ball, take it forward, wait for Serkan to commit himself and slot it in right to left off the post for a well deserved goal right out of the training ground manual !
Eski Kanka’s head was in his hands (again !) but all 4 tribunes upped the volume of their songs ! I was screaming at the ANKARAGUCU players to play footie and use the spaces on the wings, but, unfortunately and as usual, nobody was listening to me !
So it continued until ANKARAGUCU were awarded a penalty for hand-ball after a rare incursion into the Ankaraspor penalty area. Kirita stepped up and we all rose to applaud the inevitable goal…….wrong !!
As usual, it was a screamer, with the goalkeeper praying to God that he didn’t connect with the ball, but, it hit the crossbar and rebounded too far out for the inrushing forwards to cause any danger.
Half time was approaching and we were thinking negative thoughts when in only the 2nd serious ANKARAGUCU attack on goal, the ball was played out of the Ankaraspor penalty area to the unmarked Gokhan (recently signed from Boluspor) who was well outside the penalty area. He met it first time on the half volley and drilled in a rocket of a low shot which deceived everyone. 1-1 and we were all up singing, shouting and baying for more. The Olay… Olay… Olay… song was in full swing, but the wake-up call came too late and it was half time.
Why does it need a `half time talk` to wake ANKARAGUCU up ?? This was a different team now. Passes were going where they were meant and now it was Ankaraspor on the back foot.
Jaba, who had been ineffective in the 1st half, was replaced by Diawara and suddenly there was more movement and a target man up front.
`New Boy` Gokhan was having a great 2nd half and giving lots of problems to the Ankaraspor rear-guard with his speed and touches. I think his partnership with Bebbe and Diawara has grounds for optimism for the future.
Bebbe was his usual self – running, making spaces and giving it his all. Kirita is maturing into a great Club Captain and was solid at the back and leading by example. Some of his tackles were of the `oooo-ahhhh` type, but he is a real Pro and knows when to commit himself !
Lots of chances created in the 2nd half, the best being a Diawara glancing header in the final minute which went over the bar. In the end, I suppose it was, on the balance of play, a fair result. On this performance, Ankaraspor will not be in the relegation dog-fight at the end of the season.
At the risk of repeating myself from previous posts, ANKARAGUCU will have to play for 90 minutes on Wednesday against Besiktas and be more consistent if they are to win the match. In my opinion, there is only one way for ANKARAGUCU to play in this league and that is to …….. ATTACK !!!
Back to The Cappadokia Bar and a chance to thaw out with some heat and liquid refreshment. Not much post-match talk – all our frustrations were vented at the match ! We contented ourselves with watching Sivas give Trabzon a footie lesson live on TV.
The ANKARAGUCU v Sekiztrash Cup match on Wednesday is a 4pm KO. As I write this, I am not sure if we will be in the Stadium or Cappadokia to watch it. Details coming up nearer the time.
In the other Cup match, Gencler will play Adana Demir on Tuesday KO 4pm. As I reported a few days ago, it may not be in the 19 Mayis Stadium. If it isn’t, I will send out an email when the details are known.
Next weekend’s league fixtures are on Sunday 20 January KO 1.30pm –
Denizli v ANKARAGUCU
Gencler v Rize `Tea Boys`
League standings are –
ANKARAGUCU in 9th position on 24 points. Gencler is still 3rd bottom on 15 points.
Sivas is still on top with 40 points. Still a long way to go before YooRo qualification slots are decided, so the `dream` is still alive……. But only just !!
All the best from Eski Kanka Jim
Apologies for the same olde cliché of ……… a match of 2 halves !!
ANKARAGUCU 1 Ankaraspor 1
Yesterday on a freezing cold (-10 degrees C), but sunny, Ankara afternoon, Maniac Kanka and Yankee Kanka met up at the Cappadokia Bar, but I was 1st into the Stadium direct from work to see the players warming-up. It has to be said (before someone else says it) that this was a first for Eski Kanka ! First time into the Stadium without any alcohol on his breath !!
We were joined by Rip Off Kanka and Battle Damaged Kanka prior to KO and the Stadium was almost full at the ANKARAGUCU ends. Maniac Kanka counted 38 Ankaraspor fans !!! Lots of pre-match singing and euphoria with lots of anti-Gokcek chants, which was to be expected facing the hated Ankaraspor !!
Into the match and it was all Ankaraspor with ANKARAGUCU pinned back into defence and I was screaming for them to break out of defence and attack (nothing new there I can hear you say !)
ANKARAGUCU was attacking into the Gecikondu end and we only saw 2 serious attempts at goal in the 1st half. However, it has to be said that Ankaraspor’s attacks, although frequent and dangerous, were not producing anything. Also, the usual long balls up to Bebbe and Jaba were being dealt with at ease by the Ankaraspor defence !
Ahem…… that was until Ankaraspor prised open the ANKARAGUCU defence after only 15 minutes with a classic move.
The ball was played down the left wing with the ANKARAGUCU defence bunched together in the centre. The ball was swung over high to the unmarked Murat Tosun on the right who had all the time in the world to control the ball, take it forward, wait for Serkan to commit himself and slot it in right to left off the post for a well deserved goal right out of the training ground manual !
Eski Kanka’s head was in his hands (again !) but all 4 tribunes upped the volume of their songs ! I was screaming at the ANKARAGUCU players to play footie and use the spaces on the wings, but, unfortunately and as usual, nobody was listening to me !
So it continued until ANKARAGUCU were awarded a penalty for hand-ball after a rare incursion into the Ankaraspor penalty area. Kirita stepped up and we all rose to applaud the inevitable goal…….wrong !!
As usual, it was a screamer, with the goalkeeper praying to God that he didn’t connect with the ball, but, it hit the crossbar and rebounded too far out for the inrushing forwards to cause any danger.
Half time was approaching and we were thinking negative thoughts when in only the 2nd serious ANKARAGUCU attack on goal, the ball was played out of the Ankaraspor penalty area to the unmarked Gokhan (recently signed from Boluspor) who was well outside the penalty area. He met it first time on the half volley and drilled in a rocket of a low shot which deceived everyone. 1-1 and we were all up singing, shouting and baying for more. The Olay… Olay… Olay… song was in full swing, but the wake-up call came too late and it was half time.
Why does it need a `half time talk` to wake ANKARAGUCU up ?? This was a different team now. Passes were going where they were meant and now it was Ankaraspor on the back foot.
Jaba, who had been ineffective in the 1st half, was replaced by Diawara and suddenly there was more movement and a target man up front.
`New Boy` Gokhan was having a great 2nd half and giving lots of problems to the Ankaraspor rear-guard with his speed and touches. I think his partnership with Bebbe and Diawara has grounds for optimism for the future.
Bebbe was his usual self – running, making spaces and giving it his all. Kirita is maturing into a great Club Captain and was solid at the back and leading by example. Some of his tackles were of the `oooo-ahhhh` type, but he is a real Pro and knows when to commit himself !
Lots of chances created in the 2nd half, the best being a Diawara glancing header in the final minute which went over the bar. In the end, I suppose it was, on the balance of play, a fair result. On this performance, Ankaraspor will not be in the relegation dog-fight at the end of the season.
At the risk of repeating myself from previous posts, ANKARAGUCU will have to play for 90 minutes on Wednesday against Besiktas and be more consistent if they are to win the match. In my opinion, there is only one way for ANKARAGUCU to play in this league and that is to …….. ATTACK !!!
Back to The Cappadokia Bar and a chance to thaw out with some heat and liquid refreshment. Not much post-match talk – all our frustrations were vented at the match ! We contented ourselves with watching Sivas give Trabzon a footie lesson live on TV.
The ANKARAGUCU v Sekiztrash Cup match on Wednesday is a 4pm KO. As I write this, I am not sure if we will be in the Stadium or Cappadokia to watch it. Details coming up nearer the time.
In the other Cup match, Gencler will play Adana Demir on Tuesday KO 4pm. As I reported a few days ago, it may not be in the 19 Mayis Stadium. If it isn’t, I will send out an email when the details are known.
Next weekend’s league fixtures are on Sunday 20 January KO 1.30pm –
Denizli v ANKARAGUCU
Gencler v Rize `Tea Boys`
League standings are –
ANKARAGUCU in 9th position on 24 points. Gencler is still 3rd bottom on 15 points.
Sivas is still on top with 40 points. Still a long way to go before YooRo qualification slots are decided, so the `dream` is still alive……. But only just !!
All the best from Eski Kanka Jim
I really, really, really like our new boy from Bolu--spor that is. Gokhan played hard and smart yesterday.
ReplyDeleteAs for Kirita, Giani we love you. Don't worry about that damn bar getting in the way. As hard as you kicked it, I am surprised the bar did't bend to make way for the ball.