Ankaragucu vs Boluspor match preview !

Ankaragucu travel to Bolu tomorrow to take on Boluspor in the Turkish PTT Lig. It is difficult to tell if Wednesdays match at Besiktas will spur Ankaragucu on or weather it has dented the players confidence after going so close to causing a big upset in Istanbul. The match between Ankaragucu and Boluspor has an interesting history dating back to 1981.

Both sides met each other that year in the Turkish Cup final which Ankaragucu won 2-1, Turkish President Kenan Evran and Ankara Mayor  Mustafa Gonul decided the Turkish Cup winners would win promotion to the Turkish Super Lig. Fans of Boluspor were angered at this and believed that the match was fixed in order to make sure Ankaragucu won promotion. Ankaragucu remained in the Super  Lig until last season.

Boluspor are sitting mid table at the moment and are still in with a chance of a play off place, but could also be dragged into the relegation battle. They have enough quality in their side including Serge Dijehoua, Akeem Agbetu, Iskander Alin and former Ankaragucu goalkeeper Serdar Kulbilge. The later signed for Ankaragucu last summer from Genclerbirligi but didn't play a single game due to his alleged involvement in match fixing during his time at Gencler.

If the home side play to their full potential they could prove to be to strong for Ankaragucu with the quality they have in their squad. A good 3-1 win at Sanliurfaspor last week will give them some confidence in what has been a start stop season so far.

Ankaragucu can take confidence from their performance mid week during Besiktas, and if they play to that same level there is no reason why they cant return to Ankara with the three points. Timur Ozgoz, Umit Kurt and Kaan Kanak are all in excellent form and will be again called upon for their big performances.

History has been good to Ankaragucu in this fixture as the picture above shows when winning the cup, lets hope tomorrow it repeats itself with 3 points.

Besiktas 3-2 Ankaragucu match report !

The young lions of Ankaragucu were left with broken hearts at full time tonight as Besiktas won 3-2 scoring the winning goal with 5 minutes to go. Before the game had kicked off the home side were expected to win comfortably, after all the Super Lig side with their international superstars were up against a young Ankaragucu side who have won 1 league game all season and cant pay their players.

These young Ankaragucu players can head back home to the Capital with their heads held high and be proud of an excellent performance tonight in Istanbul, and credit to manager Mustafa Kaplan who set up the team with his usual 4-4-2 formation.

Team - Bayram, Aytac, Mehmet, Umit, Volkan, Gokhan Erdogan, Mert Erdogan, Bilal, Kaan, Sinan, Timur

Subs: Gokahn, Gurkan, Teoman, Enes, Gundogdu, Hasan, Umut Nayir


You will be glad to here that Ankaragucu took to the field on time and there were no delays in kick off despite Atilla Suslu claiming all week that the team would enter the field 15 minutes late in protest against the Turkish FA. Instead 11 young men representing the club they love took to the field and fought for 90 minutes producing their best performance to date.

Besiktas as expected started the game stronger, they rested some of their players like Manuel Fernandes and Alan McGregor while Hugo Almeida was suspended. The first chance of the game fell to Muhammed Demirici after Emre crossed the ball to the back post, but the youngster could only find the side netting.

It took 20 minutes for the first goal of the game, and it was the home side who went ahead. A long ball over the top which Mehmet Tasci failed to deal with found its way to Filip Holosko, the big striker was to strong and held off Umit Kurt before firing past Bayram. 1-0 Besiktas.

After the Besiktas goal, Ankaragucu stepped up a gear and started to close down every ball as well as get the ball forward to Sinan and Timur. Bilal Gulden played a lovely ball through for Timur who beat the offside trap, the striker was one on one with Cenk and kept his nerve before putting the ball through the keepers legs to make it 1-1. A fantastic goal and great finish from Timur.

Five minutes later and the Ankaragucu fans were on their feet again, another through ball which Cenk came out of his area and punched the ball away, the referee waved play on and the ball found its way to Kaan who lobbed Cenk to make it 2-1 Ankaragucu. The TV cameras went to the Ankaragucu bench and the substitutes couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Just before half time Bayram made some good saves from Filip Holosko, and then an excellent double save from Olcay. Half time 2-1 , an excellent first half from Ankaragucu but there were another long 45 minutes to go.

Into the second half and Filip Holosko had a chance to put Besiktas level, he outmuscled both Mehmet Tasci and Umit Kurt which left him one on one with Bayram, but Ankaragucu goalkeeper made a good save at his feet. Besiktas did get their equaliser from the penalty spot. Ugur Boral went past his man in the box, Gokhan Erdogan slid in and brought Ugur down and the referee awarded the penalty. Thomas Hilbert stepped up and blasted the ball into the top corner giving Bayram no chance.

Gokhan had a half chance to redeem himself but blasted well over from just outside the box. The best chance of the second half for Ankaragucu fell for Timur, he was put through on goal but this time he shot straight at Cenk who tipped the ball round the post.

It looked like the game was heading for extra time until Ibrahim Toroman crossed the ball in the box, it found its way to Batuhan Karadeniz who headed past Bayram to make it 3-2 Besiktas. The goal seemed to take the wind out of the Ankaragucu players and Besiktas held on and will progress into the group stages of the Cup.

Next up for Ankaragucu is an away trip to Boluspor on Saturday afternoon, if the players play to the same level as tonight they will win the game. But just how much has tonight taken out of the players ? One thing is for sure, they can be proud of their efforts tonight. Timur Ozgoz will have done himself no harm tonight with another impressive performance. His value will have risen and any team looking to sign him will surely make a move for him in January.

Saldir Ankaragucu !

Ankaragucu vs Besiktas match preview !

Ankaragucu travel to Istanbul to take on Besiktas in the Turkish Cup on Wednesday night. It remains to be seen if the game will go ahead with the Ankaragucu management threatening to take to the field 15 minutes late in protest against the Turkish FA for their failure to help the club.

Ankaragucu have a decent home record of recent against Besiktas with two draws and a win, the most recent a 0-0 draw at 19 Mayis last season. Their record in Istanbul isn't as good though and it will take a miracle to win on Wednesday night, but this is football and shocks do happen especially in cup competitions.

The young players will take a bit of confidence into the game after a good performance at the weekend against Samsunspor. As Jim mentioned Ankaragucu were unlucky not to take the three points and had to settle for a 1-1 draw. Besiktas on the other hand won 3-1 at home to Akhisar with Filip Holosko and Hugo Almeida looking on good form.

Besiktas will also have a Scottish member of their squad, with former Rangers goalkeeper Alan McGregor playing in goal. Hopefully Ankaragucu can put some pressure on the  Scotland number 1 with a shock win.

Ankaragucu will go into the game like this is a cup final, for these young players haven't had much to smile about of late, but there is no pressure on them on Wednesday night. This is a chance for them to enjoy themselves and take in the experience and create a bit of history. Hopefully our management will see sense and abandon their plans for disrupting the game.

Key players will be Bayram Olgun and Umit Kurt at the back who have been rock solid this season, while Mert Erdogan in midfield will be called upon to use his experience to help the younger players. Up front Timur will need to take the few chances that come his way.

Good luck Ankaragucu from the Round ball in Ankara !

Gencler slump away to Fener

In the end it was quite a drubbing and despite various reports in the paper's today saying that the referee was biased in favour of Fenerbahce, the Istanbul team deserved to win it.

Fenerbahce 4 - 1 Genclerbirligi

Bit lazy on Sunday afternoon so I didn't make it down to the Beer Bus to watch the match but instead pulled out the radio and expected the worse.

I was then pleasantly surprised to hear that Genclerbirligi were making good attacks and in quite possibly should have had a penalty.

The radio crossed over to the Sivas-Kayseri match. Then the dreaded studio announcer cuts in with, "back to Istanbul for news of a goal!"

Dreaded of course because chances are always that it was Fener who had scored. But no! Aykut Demir scores with a sort of volley after a free kick taken by Azofeifa.

A huge shout at the Oz Kanka household and we seemed to continue in our aggressive, positive football.

Then just before half-time came the news that Fener had equalised.

1-1 at half time and bugger the radio. I want to watch this on the telly so I rang @spinesideburn and we met up at the Pool Pub just in time for the second half.

Fenerbahce came out looking for the winner. They played some very nice football but the attacks created room for some counter attacking from our own boys. Nothing really worked though and then Fener scored. Pretty much open slather after that.

Oh well. That makes it 11 times since we last managed not to lose at Sukru Saricioglu. Not the best of records

ANKARAGUCU - ALL OUT ENDEAVOUR WINS A POINT

Greetings Kankas and Kankies. Picture taken from Samsunspor website.

No doubting the endeavour of all the young Ankaragucu players in the team yesterday, but it could so easily have been 3 points had the woodwork not been in the way and the Samsun goalkeeper, Atilla, not been in fine form.

Having said that, I should also mention that the Samsun defence was well organised and that was to be expected from a team with one of the tightest defences in the league.

ANKARAGUCU   1     Samsun   1

Team - Bayram, Aytac, Mehmet, Umit, Volkan, Teoman, Mert, Bilal, Kaan, Sinan and Timur.

Subs: Gokhan, Hasan, Umit Nayir, Orhan, Gurkan, Gundogdu, Enes

There was some doubt on Friday night that the match would take place.   Battle Damaged Kanka Damon saw some reports on the Internet that the Club 'Management' decided that the team would not take to the field in protest.   My immediate reaction was ......... a lot of good that will do !    Hand Samsun the 3 points free and then be handed a whopping fine by the TFF to add to the growing Club debts !

Anyway, we (Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Cider Kanka John and I) decided to meet up at the Chopin Bar to assess the situation and find out if the rumour was true.   Gecikondu Bugra told us that the match was on and so off we went to the Stadium, more in hope than anything else !

We entered the Stadium 5 minutes into the match and Gecikondu was in full voice as normal.   There was a pitiful attendance in Maraton and it was the first time in my memory that Gates 7 and 8 were closed.    The 'away' end was full of Samsun boyz and I guess there was easily 3 to 400 there making their presence felt.  I should also mention that they had one of those 'love-ins' with Gecikondu in the 2nd half when they sang each others songs to each other.   Beats bad-mouthing !!

The first action of any note came in the 14th minute when Timur received a great pass, found himself in space  and fired in an unstoppable shot which was heading goal-bound.   However, Atilla was equal to it and made an outstanding save.

With half an hour gone it was pretty even with Samsun looking the more dangerous.   Ankaragucu was playing some nice footie but, not for the first time, it was breaking down in the last quarter.   Added to that, the Samsun defence was mopping everything up, especially the high balls into the area.

Then on the stroke of half time the break through came with an excellent sweeping move from Ankaragucu down the right.   Kaan crossed the ball into the area to the incoming Teoman, who had made a great run in support, received an inch perfect pass to side-foot the ball in and send us into raptures.

Perhaps Ankaragucu was fortunate to go in at half time one up, but we are thankful for small mercies these days !

Into the 2nd half and the match was being played at a fast and furious pace.   Ankaragucu was having more possession than they did in the first half and were looking likely to add to their score.

However, it was not to be.   The only mistake made by the Ankaragucu defence all afternoon was to be punished.   In the 71st minute the ball was slung over from the right but it was not dealt with.   The defending header was not accurate and fortuitously fell to a Samsun attacker who fired in a ferocious shot into the roof of the net giving Bayram no chance.

15 minutes to go and although the Ankaragucu players looked tired, they were still fighting for every ball and trying to get forward to grab the winner, and it almost came from Sinan with 10 minutes to go.   He turned his man in the box, found himself in space and fired in a shot with Atilla beaten.   Unfortunately, the ball hit the far post and rebounded to safety.    It would have been a contender for goal of the month !

The last few minutes of the match saw Ankaragucu have 2 more genuine efforts, the first being screwed wide by a miss-kick and the second saved by Atilla.

So, another point for Ankaragucu, but with the possibility of a points deduction looming, the future is not looking so rosy !

All credit to the Ankaragucu young players yesterday for their efforts.   Well played lads !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Ankaragucu 1-1 Samsunspor

Ankaragucu were unlucky not to take the three points today as they drew 1-1 at home to Samsunspor. Goal came from Teoman Sefa. Match report tomorrow from Jim.

Ankaragucu vs Samsunspor match preview !

Ankaragucu take on Samsunspor at home on Saturday afternoon as the club look for that great escape in the battle against relegation. Mustafa Kaplan will take his young players to the field at the 19 Mayis stadium for the first time and will be hoping the fans will be there in their numbers to back them.

There has been a lot of talk this week of all the off field problems at Ankaragucu, only today Abdullah Karaata said that the club should look to appoint Ahmet Gokcek as president as there is no other way to save the club.

Mustafa Bey will put off field problems to the side for the visit of Samsunspor, the black sea club are also in a relegation battle and 7  points ahead of Ankaragucu. They have drawn 6 of their last 8 games though and like every other club who has come to Ankara will be tough opposition.

Last season both sides met four times, Ankaragucu winning one, Samsunspor wining one and the other two games ending in a draw. Unfortunately both teams were relegated to the Turkish First division and have found it difficult due to financial problems and loosing so many first team players.

Ankaragucu drew 1-1 at rivals Goztepe last week and were fortunate to escape with the point, it was thanks to a fantastic performance from Bayram who was instrumental in taking a point back to Ankara. Mert Erdogan is back from injury but there are injury concerns to Kaan Kanak, Mehmet Tasci and Serkan Sirin. .

The game will be a 2pm kick off Turkish time so make sure you are there to follow on the team, remember real fans follow the team through the dark times and don't follow the money.

MKE Ankaragucu or Ankaragucu A.S ?

Picture taken form LIGTV

There has been a lot of talk the last couple of days on the Ankaragucu facebook pages and twitter pages regarding the future of the club. As the weeks go by things are getting a lot more difficult for the club to pay any debts, players wages or even finish the current season. Only last Saturday new president Atilla Suslu confirmed the club have had enquires about 5 of our players, and that it could raise much needed cash.

With current debts at 80 Million Turkish Lira and the club facing a 12 point deduction if the Roman Bednar debt isn't paid by 26th of November, its difficult to see any way out of this mess for Ankaragucu. A club destroyed by Cemal Aydin and the Gokcek family in the opinion of the fans. Who is going to come in to a club and take on all those debts ? Turkish footballs rules don't allow foreign ownership, so there will be no arab or russian billionaires coming to save the club.

If MKE Ankaragucu are to survive, they need investment and to clear this huge debt, the club also need to find a way of removing Cemal Aydin with rumours saying his time will come to an end in July 2013. With Ankaragucu A.S, it will mean starting again, the history can be transferred as a newco the same way it has with Rangers. It will be the same club, just that the company name will change. There would also be no debt to pay and it would be a fresh start.

The problem with Ankaragucu A.S is that if the Gokceks are to come in then it will split the fans. You will have the likes of Gecekondu supporting MKE Ankaragucu and Anti X will follow Ankaragucu A.S. This is the last thing the club need, we cant afford to loose half our support. What the fans need to remember, is to follow the club and not the money. If Ankaragucu go to the amateur leagues we will follow on, rather than fund the Gokceks who are a big reason we are in this position in the first place.

It will be interesting to see how things develop, with Ankaraspor back in the Turkish Super Lig next season what will the Gokceks next move be ?

I could wring that referee's neck!

In the taxi after the match @spinesideburn said that he didn't think the referee had too bad of a match. WTF! Were you watching the same match! Let's just go through the 44 seconds before the Sivas goal.

* A very clear handball by a Sivas player. Ref doesn't see it (and neither do the two blokes on the sideline) but the ball goes through to ...

* ... Hursut on the right goes into the box and is brought down. The defender was nowhere near the ball. Ref calls play on and the cleared ball goes to...

* ... A clearly off-side player for Sivas who (admittedly the defending was bad) slots it home. Sivas go one up.

That was absolute rubbish referee Huseyin Gocek. I'm not going to make any accusations of the referee being paid off or anything like that. I just think the bloke is a joke and should not be anywhere near a top flight football game.

Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Sivasspor 

It was a "Super Saturday of Sport" for a few of us in Ankara on ....er ... Saturday.

I'm not going to go into a blow-by-blow account of the morning viciousness except to say that players from four of the six teams that played in the Under 8s competition at the Balgat base were in attendance at the Gencler match in the evening.

Ankara people! The message from this is clear. If foreign kiddies are prepared to support their local team... then so should you, you lazy bastards.

Little Oz Kanka did ask me though to point out that while his team did lose in the semi-final, he was "that" close to scoring in the last second, with the ball hitting the post. Tears were fought back, emotions were high, friendships on the line, but in the end I recovered, Matthew laughed at me and was then rewarded with a lovely little trophy and some cardboard disguising itself as American pizza.

Showers and whatnot and then off to the Red Lion Club for the rugby.

England smashed Fiji last week. France smashed Australia. Australia beat England on Saturday. The world is now back to normal.

Quick dash in Simon's car and off to the stadium. The crew this week included the delusional @spinesideburn , everybody's favourite Erasmus student @PritchDan , er... Simon who was good enough to not drink so much so as to drive us to the stadium and his son Tom, and Tom's classmate Little Oz Kanka Matthew. Got there just in time to take a piss as the national anthem was being played. Sorted.

At some stage I might get to describing some of the football. Not sure though and you may have to do with the opening couple of sentences.

But what the hell did we find in the stands? Nikolai, our favourite Danish person of the moment (please forgive me Nordic Kanka if you are still reading this blog years after having left), was there with at least three small blond children. Well done sir.

Thing was though, it was a little bit nippy and so some people brought a beanie or a pair of gloves. Nikolai doesn't take any chances though. He brought an entire sofa-size Ikea plastic bag with enough clothing for him and the kids just in case a severe snow storm was going to hit the 19 Mayis Stadium between 7pm and 9pm on Saturday night. The storm never came though and we all survived.

Nikolai (left) and unidentified Nordic child
sit in front of IKEA bag full of heaps of shit.

Football.. Oh yes, did I mention that your good correspondent and his son were on the telly this week. It was a Lig TV show and they came to our place to interview us asking questions such as 'Are you bloody mad?'

As soon as I got out of the car a bloke actually asked me if I was the famous one from the Lig Tv show! I'm going to start charging appearance money.

If you are really curious you can watch the show on the Lig Tv website. 


Young Tom was also in the show and I heard this evening that this particular 8-year-old has now decided to ditch Besiktas and to instead support Genclerbirligi. RESULT!!!!!

There was football as well on Saturday night!

Easy way to understand the first half.

1. Laugh at referee and linesmen.

2. Watch plenty of attacks from Genclerbirligi and then see them...

3. ... stuff them up.

4. Read first few lines from this report.

5. Shout and swear, BLOODY LOUDLY.

6. Replay 1, 2, 3 and 5.

7. Take a half time piss as Gencler go in 0-1 down.

Second half and we just had shot after shot after shot. Just damn unlucky none of them went in.

Except of course for what was the stupidest blunder of the match.

An open letter to Saturday's referee:

Hocam Mr. Referee Huseyin Gocek,
By God you are rubbish. Thanks for the penalty by the way.
Yours,
The football loving public   

Jimmy had come on at some stage and wasn't playing too badly but it wasn't exactly cricket when he went down in the box. We all shouted abuse at him for being a fool and then Hocam Mr. Referee Huseyin Gocek blew the whistle for a penalty. FOR US!

We couldn't believe it. There was no way in the world that was a penalty. But it was for us. So in celebration we all started up the chant that the `referee is an amateur`. Hursut scored it and we just laughed. Top class idiot in charge tonight.

And so the match went on until finally the ref blew it up. 1-1. Not the best for Gencler but it could have been worse. It could have been a whole lot better as well.

Coming up soon on `The round ball in Ankara` some actual discussion of football. Well, maybe...

Somehow Gencler only manage a draw

Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Sivasspor

A million chances, some complete and utter incompetence from the referee and his assistants and then a very dodgy penalty. All up. Extremely frustrating on a chilly Saturday night in the capital.
Full report up on Sunday.

Goztepe 1-1 Ankaragucu match report !

Picture taken from Haberler

Ankaragucu can thank Bayram Olgun for his man of the match performance at Goztepe as he helped the team bring back a point to the capital. It was Mustafa Kaplan's first match in charge and he knew he couldn't afford to loose at rivals Goztepe.  He started the game with a 4-4-2 formation with Sinan Kurumus joining Timur up front.

Team - Bayram, Aytac, Umit, Volkan, Mehmet, Gokhan, Bilal, Serkan, Kaan, Sinan, Timur

Subs: Gokhan, Umut Nayir, Gurkan, Hasan, Mert, Enes, Orhan

The atmosphere in Izmir was excellent as the home fans looked to cheer their team onto victory and it was only a few minutes in when they had the first chance, a cross to the back post saw Hamza unmarked but he volleyed wide of the post.

The first chance for Ankaragucu was a half chance for Kaan who shot from just outside the box but his shot was easily saved by Ferhat. Minutes later Goztepe nearly took the lead, a cross into the box but the striker headed just wide with Bayram beaten.

Ankaragucu were struggling to get into the game, but then came the goal against the run of play. Excellent play down the right by Gokhan who crossed into the box for Sinan whose header was some how saved by Ferhat, but Kaan placed the ball into the back of the net from the rebound. 1-0 Ankaragucu.

And thats how it stayed to half time, Ankaragucu defending well but struggling to keep the ball up top with their passing letting them down.

Into the second half and it was all one way traffic as Goztepe bombarded the Ankaragucu goal. Again against the run of play Bilal crossed the ball into the box but Sinan headed straight at Ferhat when he should have done better. Goztepe were causing problems with Halil and Ali Kucik down the flanks, a cross into the box nearly creeped in but Bayram was alert to tip the ball round the post.

Then came the goal, a throw in into the box which the Ankargucu defence failed to clear, the ball fell to Ali Kucik whose shot was nearly saved by Bayram but it hit the post and went in. 1-1. A couple of minutes later a fantastic save from Bayram kept the scores level.

Ankargucu had a half chance when Timur broke forward and passed inside to Gokhan but the later blasted well over. Goztepe almost went in front when breaking forward, the Ankaragucu defender tried to clear the ball but hit his own post. A lucky escape. Bayram made another excellent save from Ali Kucik, then seconds later Goztepe hit the bar and from the rebound Bayram somehow saved with his leg with outstanding reactions.

Umit Kurt saw his free kick from 35 yards easily saved by Ferhat as the game ended 1-1. Ankaragucu need to start preparing for Lig 2, but the big problems lie off field. It will be interesting to see the developments through the week.

Timur Ozgoz set for Genclerbirligi transfer ?

New Ankaragucu president Atilla Suslu today confirmed 5 players are attracting interest from other clubs. According to the Ankaragucu facebook page Gokhan Erdogan, Timur Ozgoz, Umit Kurt, Serkan Sirin are the players attracting the attention with the other player yet to be named.

There is no doubting Umit Kurt is ready to play in the Turkish Super Lig, the defender has been head and shoulders above everyone else in the team. Timur Ozgoz the clubs top scorer has impressed this season and its believed Genclerbirligi want to keep him in Ankara and are eyeing up a move for the player.

The move itself would suit Timur and it is also believed the player would welcome the move. With the future of Ankaragucu in doubt these young players need to look after their future and the chance to play with a club in the Super Lig and also get paid would be to much to turn down.

Ankaragucu face Besiktas in next round of Turkish Cup !

Ankaragucu were today drawn away to Besiktas in the next round of the Turkish Cup. Mustafa Kaplan spoke today saying the club were happy with the draw and the young players will give everything in the match to try and win the game.

According to Klasspor, Ankaragucu fans have been banned from traveling to Izmir for tomorrows match due to security measures. Both teams have a heated history so the game will be played in front of home fans only.

As reported on here the last couple of days things have gotten a lot worse at Ankaragucu with the club finishing the season in doubt, Mustafa Kaplan admitted we have received offers for 5 of our players who could leave in January. Umit kurt, Mert Erdogan, Bayram Olgun, Timur Ozgoz and Serkan Sirin will be the top targets.

Good luck to the players tomorrow in Goztepe, remember to tune into TRT Web TV who are showing the game live at 1600 Turkish Time.

In other news tonight, according to twitter and the official Ankaragucu Facebook, Ankaragucu have until the 27th of November to pay £140,000 debt for Roman Bednar's loan deal or the club will be deducted 12 points. If the club don't then pay further debts on 16 December they could face demotion to  Lig 2.

Thank you Aylin Nazliaka !

In the last two years Ankaragucu have went from having one of the best squads in the Turkish Super Lig to a club close to going bankrupt. During this period only one person has shown any support to the club and asked the same questions that the fans have been asking. Today member of parliament Aylin Nazliaka asked those questions at the Turkish Parliament. Thanks to John for translating the article below.

Aylin Nazliaka made her mark at the Sport Ministrys budgetary meetings, both asking questions of Sports minister Suat Kilic about Ankaragucu's predicament and calling Melih Gokcek to account for getting angry at Aziz Yildirim and Mahmut Ozgener, and giving the Saray sports grounds to the Turkish sevret services.

Nazliaka has also asked Suat Kilic these questions in parliment :

• First of all, on the 5ht April 2012 i tabled a still un-answered motion questioning how the Gokcek family had caused Ankaragucu to get relegated. Ankaragucu Sports Club became part of the city's identity, its made up of its fans; most of all, out of all Turkeys sports stadiums 19 Mayis stadium has seen a true football story take root. Ankaragucu has been ranked fourth placed in terms of how long it has been in the Turkish Super Lig.

• As one of Ankara's most important symbols MKE Ankaragucu is seeing hard times, Ankargucu was used as a political stepping stone, but it didn't politically deliver and was forced to pay the price for poor management which burdened the club with sham debt in order to take revenge.Ankara was represented in the Super Lig in 2009/09 by four teams, now it only has one. Those incapable of running our city (Gokceks) were responsible for two of those clubs relegated. 

• Besides the repetitional and economic advantages of a city having a football team, it also represents the city's history, culture and spirit. Now i want to remind the minister of my questions: " When Ahmet Gokcek took up his position, what were MKE Ankaragucu's total debts and receivables ? How much debt did the club take on between 30th August 2009 and 24th August 2011 ? What were the clubs total debts and receivables on the 24th August 2011 and where do they come from  ?

• What is the total debt and breakdown of that debt from 6th April 2012 ? How much of that is interest and charges ? How many footballers were transferred between 30th August 2009 and 24th August 2011? When were these footballers contracts signed by the club ? What were the transfer fees paid to their clubs ? What were the transfer fees paid to them ?

• Is there presently any club or player that Ankargucu is in debt to because of these transfer fees ? How much debt does that represent ? Are there any private individuals who are not on the Ankaragucu board but who are owed money ? Who are they ? How much are they owed and why ? We know that MKE Ankargucu's relegation from the Super Lig had a negative effect on the economy and reputation of Ankara. What are the estimates of this figure ?

• We know that the Turkish FA has been sensitive to corruption and match fixing yet turned a blind eye to what is happening at Ankaragucu, is some political force preventing them from doing so ? Especially in recent days claims that the board of directors between August 2009 and August 2011 were guilty of wrongdoing. Irregularities and illegality have been widely publicised, why has no inquiry been launched to look at the president and directors of Ankaragucu during that time ?

• Is the claim that MKE Ankargucu went 35 million TL into debt in a single day without any court judgement true ? And is it true that those who were owed money applied the same day at the same court with the same lawyer ? Why did the clubs board not object to these debts ? Was Ankargucu tricked into these debts ? Did anyone think about opening an enquiry ? When the Mayor of Ankara was no longer president of the club why did he keep sending out press releases about the clubs financial and league positions ?

• Do those people and companies owed money by Ankaragucu have any business relationship with the Ankara metropolitan council ? You Suat Kilic promised to build a new stadium, up until now nothing has been done, what are your plans ? The Saray Sports facility which Ankaragucu were using was the best facility in Europe and Melih Gokcek took it away from the club as he said he was angry with Aziz Yildirim and Mahmut Ozgener, so should the club loose this facility due to the Mayor of Ankara's personal grudges ?

Again thank you to this remarkable woman who is doing all she can to help the club. It is obvious for everyone to see Ankaragucu has been the victim of corruption and criminal activity and Melih Gokcek has many questions to answer.

I would also like to thank the Rangers fans who have recently went through the same troubles as Ankaragucu, they have left their comments to show us support from the FollowFollow messageboard.

Hikmet Hancioglu sacked !

The Round Ball in Ankara has just learned that Ankaragucu general manager Hikmet Hancioglu has been sacked by the clubs new management. The club held a meeting at 1900 and the decision was made to relieve Hikmet of his duties. This comes only a few days after club manager Yilmaz Ozlem and his assistant Taner Ocal was sacked.

Hikmet has made some big decisions at the club over the last few years and was said to be one of Cemal Aydins men. New president Atilla Suslu has certainly wasted no time in making changes to the club since he has come in, weather its for the good or bad remains to be seen.

Ankaragucu vs Goztepe match preview !

When the Turkish PTT Lig fixtures were announced at the start of the season, the game the raised a few eyebrows was Ankaragucu vs Goztepe. Unfortunately for all the wrong reasons as both clubs have a violent past dating back to when Ankaragucu played Galatasaray in a cup final in Izmir. As we all know Izmir is the city which both Karsiyaka and Goztepe come from, fans of Karsiyaka went to the game to cheer on Ankaragucu whilst fans of Goztepe cheered on Galatasaray.

Before we take a look at the weekends game some important news involving both clubs. Former Ankaragucu president Bent Ahlat has been arrested and sent to prision, Ahlat was wanted by police after being caught with firearms without a licence. News broke last night that Bent Ahlat also tried to steal 8.3 Million from Ankaragucu until new president Atilla Suslu stepped in at the last minute to block the attempt.

Goztepe coach Kemal Kilic tonight suffered a heart attack and is currently in intensive care, as much as this is a heated match between the two clubs we at the Round ball in Ankara would like to wish him a speedy recovery and send our wishes to the family. Ankaragucu have also given a contract to Bilal Gundogdu from the youth team, he was on the bench at the weekend against Tavsanli and the young midfielder will look to break into the first team.

We would also like to say well done to both Gokhan Akkan and Hasan Ayaroglu who were both involved in Turkey U18's match against Holland tonight. After all the doom and gloom over the last couple of years it is good to see these two young lads representing the club.

Back to the weekends match, Ankaragucu travel to Izmir at the weekend knowing that the clubs pride is at stake. Fans of both clubs will be expecting their team to give their all and win the match. Goztepe have home advantage but the last time the two clubs met Ankaragucu won 1-0 in Izmir. A lot has changed since then with Ankaragucu spending every season in the Super Lig apart from this season, while Goztepe went bankrupt and went to the amateur leagues.

Ankaragucu look like they are heading for the same fate as Goztepe, the amateur leagues is almost certain and the club will need to rebuild. Goztepe like Ankaragucu have had a poor start to the season, they lost at home to rivals Karsiyaka and are currently in the relegation zone. They did win 2-0 at Sanliurfaspor at the weekend though which will give them some confidence.

Ankaragucu will have new coach Mustafa Kaplan in charge of the side and it will be interesting to see if he can make any difference to the team. I was speaking to a fellow Ankaragucu fan who said he thinks Kaplan is a good appointment as he done well with the Genclerbirligi youth team and with Ankaragucu having to rely on youngsters he could be the man to take us forward.

Former Ankaragucu midfielder Theo Weeks is a member of the Goztepe squad and will be hoping he is in the starting line up to face his former team mates. Weeks is a hard working young midfielder who could cause problems but Goztepe have found it hard to score goals this season. If Ankaragucu can keep it tight at the back and take their chances up front then i don't see why we cant take the three points back to Ankara.

Timur Ozgoz is such an important player for the club, his hold up play needs to improve but his pace and movement has caused problems for most defenders he has come up against this season, he will get chances and needs to take them when they come his way.

If the game goes ahead depending on the condition of the Goztepe coach it will be on Saturday at 1600 Turkish time and will be shown live on TRT Web TV.

Mustafa Kaplan to be named new Ankaragucu manager !

Former Ankaragucu assistant coach and Genclerbirligi manager Mustafa Kaplan has been handed the impossible task of replacing Yilmaz Ozlem as manager of Ankaragucu. News broke last night as Yilmaz Ozlem and Taner Ocal were given their marching orders. Rumours in todays media outlets claim Cemal Aydin instructed Mehmet Ural to make the decision to sack the pair after the club lost again to Tavsanli.

In other news, Muhammed Turkmen will not play again for the club after he was involved in a fight with Goalkeeping coach Murat Turksoy. Only last season Turkmen was dropped from the squad after a dispute with Hakan Kutlu. Ankaragucu A2 team today beat Ankaraspor 3-2 thanks to goals from Sefo Teoman and Enes Kubat.

And some nice words from ex Ankaragucu favourite Augustine Ahinful as the fans favourite sent me a message on Facebook to say Ankaragucu ill survive. Its nice to see we still hold a place in his heart but i don't think he knows just how bad things are at the club. If only we had a player of his ability at the club just now.

Ankaragucu terminate contracts of Yilmaz Ozlem and Taner Ocal !

The first task of the new Ankaragucu management tonight was to terminate the contracts of Manager Yilmaz Ozlem and his assistant Taner Ocal. Both were appointed in the summer after Hakan Kutlu resigned from his role at the club. After only one win and the club sitting bottom of the league, new President Atilla Suslu has made the decision to sack the pair.

The decision will be unpopular with the fans and players especially with Yilmaz Ozlem being an ex fans favourite during his playing career at the club. Mustafa Kaplan has been tipped for the vacant managers position but what the new President must realise is that even Alex Ferguson would face the impossible task of saving Ankaragucu. Its matters off the field that need to be sorted.

News on twitter also saying Hakan Kutlu could return and there will be a press conference on Tuesday. Thank you Yilmaz Ozlem and Taner Ocal for your efforts, you deserved better than that.

A hard earned away victory for Gencler

The end of the Indian summer and onto crap. Cold, wet and windy. I was glad I was watching in the pub. Pity the poor Gaziantep fans who had to travel a couple of hundred kilometres to Urfa for their "home" match. As far as I know their home ground is being fixed up.

Gaziantepspor 2 - 3 Genclerbirligi

A whole heap of the Alkaralar boys and girls went off to the "Former Gencler Players Association" to watch today's match. Thing was though, they only serve tea. A lovely invitation from the old boys but I'd like something a bit stronger.

There were a few fans down at the Beer Bus in any case and it wasn't long before we were up and shouting.

Two minutes in. Hursut on the right sent a perfect ball into the box. Lekic chested it down to Petkovic who managed to turn it round and shoot low into the goal.

One-nil up and this was going to be easy.

Er... except it wasn't. All the play was Antep's. At around the 20th minute the possession stats were against us something like 65-35.

We weren't playing that badly but then some extremely bad defending allowed Anrep to come back in about the 25th.

About this stage @spinesideburn showed up and Gencler started to play a bit better. It was much much better stuff and then Azofeifa scored a loverrrrly goal as Hursut found him unmarked outside the box.

1-2 at half-time and all was well.

The rain must have really come down at half-time as the pitch just collapsed. It wasn't a quagmire of mud but the ball was certainly not going anywhere.

So we got some quite stupid football really. Not the players fault, but hey.

Antep continued to dominate possession but Ozkan in goal (if you remember our regular keeper Ramazan was sent off last week) was excellent.

Considering the circumstances, the bad field, the rain, the sheer misery of it all, most of our players were pretty good. I particularly liked Zec, Hursut, and Aykut.

Anyway, the game sort of descended into farce as the rain made it a bit of a bath. Then Tosic scored. It was a perfectly place shot which the Antep keeper had no chance of getting. 1-3 up and the match was surely ours.

Tosic is congratulated after scoring the final goal. Photo by @kirmizikara

Then in extra time they scored. deservedly so. But then with about 30 seconds on the clock and Antep attacked like hell. I have no idea what happened but mu heart was in my mouth until finally the referee blew his whistle.

Phew. All up a good victory after all, it has been more than 20 years since the last time we beat Antep away..

Ankaragucu 0-1 Tavsanli Linyitspor match report !

Its easy to see why these two sides are sitting at the bottom of the Turkish first division after todays match. To be fair to Ankaragucu they at least deserved a point from the match as the visitors scored their goal and then put men behind the ball the rest of the game. Before todays match even started Goztepe had won 2-0 at Sanliurfaspor to make todays match even more important.

Team - Bayram, Orhan, Volkan, Umit, Mehmet, Gokhan, Bilal, Aytac, Kaan, Serkan, Timur

Subs - Cihan, Umit Nayir, Hasan, Enes, Sinan, Artun, Gundogdu


Ankaragucu started the game brightly as they passed the ball well and closed Tavsanli down at every opportunity. The first chance of the game fell to Ankaragucu, a long throw into the box by Kaan found its way to Serkan whose shot was deflected inches wide of the post with Metin beaten. A few minutes later Bilal Gulden shot from distance straight at Metin in the Tavsanli goal when the pass was the better option.

Tavsanli almost took the lead when Emre Okur crossed into the box for Umit whose acrobatic overhead kick went inches over the cross bar. A few minutes later they did take the lead, again a cross from the right to the edge of the box and Mesut Saray volleyed the ball into the back of the net. An excellent goal for Tavsanli which seemed to take the wind out of the young Ankaragucu players.

Half time 1-0 Tavsanli

Into the second half and it was all Ankaragucu but the team just couldn't find that killer pass or break down the Tavsanli defence. Kaan Kanak shot from 30 yards which again didn't trouble the goalkeeper Metin. Kann had another chance from an Aytac pass but his shot was easily saved from Metin.

Both Aytac and Kaan had long range efforts saved by Metin, and Umit Kurt went inches wide with a long distance free kick. The best chances of the game for Ankaragucu both fell to Timur, the first one he brought down beautifully on the chest before blasting over, and the second one when sub Enes Kubat passed to him but he shot wide.

Substitutions, Umit Nayir replaced Mehmet, Enes replaced Kaan and Hasan replaced Serkan. None of the substitutions could inspire Ankaragucu to finding that goal they deserved. Tavsanli had a couple of chances at the end on the counter attack. Mesut shot from distance but Bayram tipped round the post. Then Ferhat had a chance on the break but again Bayram saved. Mesut then had another chance but he shot just wide with Bayram beaten this time.

Full time  Ankaragucu 0-1 Tavsanli

Ankaragucu are now heading to the Turkish Lig 2. There is no hope for this young side who cant stop conceding goals and find scoring goals near impossible. With no experienced players in the squad it may be doing more harm than good for these youngsters who are forced to play in these impossible conditions every week.

There was some unrest in the Kapali section as it looked like the club management were the target of the fans. Next up is Goztepe away on Saturday afternoon which could be messy both on and off the pitch.

Ankaragucu vs Tavsanli Linyitspor match preview !

Two teams struggling at the foot of the Turkish first division meet on Sunday at the 19 Mayis stadium in Ankara. For both Ankaragucu and Tavsanli this will be their biggest game of the season so far. Tavsanli travel to Ankara coming off the back of two heavy defeats against Sanliurfaspor and Manisaspor, while Ankaragucu have lost to the likes of Bucaspor and Adana Demirspor.

For 60 minutes of the match on Sunday at Adana, Ankaragucu looked like they could go on and win the match but as said in the match report the home side were just too strong. Mert Erdogan has been a huge loss in the middle of the park and it looks like he will miss the match this weekend to. Muhammed Turkmen played another 90 minutes as he looks to gain match fitness after a long time out with injury.

Its hard to criticise this young Ankaragucu team, after all they stuck with the team during its darkest hours all while not being paid. But some of the players need to learn from their mistakes and up their game. Bilal Gulden, Mehmet Tasci, Hasan Ayaroglu have struggle of late, but if they can get their form back they will all be big players for the club.

Tavsanli must not be underestimated, like any team in this league anyone can beat anyone. With the home crowd behind them though Ankaragucu can get that all important win that they are looking for. Kick off will be 2pm on Sunday Turkish time.

In other news, Cemal Aydin will face trial on 18th of December and could face up to 7 years in jail. From the media outlets I couldn't quite work out what the trial was for, but lets hope the Turkish justice system sends this criminal to the place he deserves in a cold, dark Turkish Jail.

The other clown involved in the downfall of Ankaragucu Melih Gokcek said on twitter last night that Ankaragucu will fall to the amateur leagues. Like that wasn't obvious Melih after all you made this happen, along with your son, Cemal Aydin and the rest of the thief's who have made money from this club.

Lovely day, crap result

Ten weeks in and Elazig finally get their first win. Embarrassing it had to us but then again I'm not sure that Gencler deserved to win on Sunday... a draw perhaps...

Genclerbirligi 1 - 2 Elazigspor

The wonderful autumn weather continues in Ankara and so it wasn't that huge a surprise to see a good turnout for Sunday afternoon's match.

It was so nice that Little Oz Kanka and myself decided to walk down to Kizilay. Didn't get far before a bloke pulled up and asked if we wanted a lift.

"I saw you wearing the Gencler colours and thought I'd offer you a lift," said our new friend Besim. Turned out that he works at Sir Eski Kanka's school and has a sideline in reporting on Ankara matches for Fanatik newspaper.

Wow. Gotta love a city where a journo will randomly pick up strangers just because they are wearing a home team strip!

The Beer Bus was nice and busy with Spine there as usual and our growing group of Erasmus students, Paddy, Dan, Savas and Waldo, also showing up.

Little Oz, Oz and Dan

Stadium and the queues were fairly long. Bumped into Nicolai bringing his two little ones along for their first Gencler match. Ertank and Ceren used the fact that we were near the head of the queue to say hello and therefore save 10 minutes. Another relative newbie, Mike, and his son Tanner, were also found inside the stadium at half-time. Young Charlie was there as always along with his dad Thijs. Family fun all round really.

Onto the football...


We started offensively but not much was really happening. Lekic managed to get a shot or two away but Zec seemed pretty lonely. Hursut was well off on the day. This is a player who can dazzle and star but on Sunday he seemed to be out of position most of the time, way too far behind, and his individual play just wasn't sparking at all. It was all very frustrating as we were clearly the better team but Elazig were fighting hard.

Spine at the back with Nicola and sons

The breakthrough came though as we had expected with Aykut heading in from a Hursut corner. It was a textbook goal and I thought it might lead to us putting quite a few past the team that was sitting at the bottom of the table.

Instead Elazig came back straight away with a header which Ramazan had no chance of saving. Oh dear, oh dear. Still, lots of time left. Half-time 1-1 and I doubt too many Gencler fans were feeling that scared.

Should have been though as Ramazan managed to get himself sent off in the 51st coming out and fouling a player on the attack. It was a silly thing to do but then again he wasn't the last man in defence. In the ensuing handbags, two Elazig players got yellow cards.

Tanner having a good time. 

We kept up attacking though and had a couple of decent shots but overall it wasn't good enough. Especially considering the referee was an idiot with no idea of what a foul is. There were numerous instances when we would see players go down and we'd breethe a sigh of relief at what would be a free kick for us, only to see the referee give it to Elazig.

In the end though it was no great surprise when Elazig scored the winner with about five minutes to go.

Adana Demirspor 4-1 Ankaragucu match report !

Ankaragucu tonight lost 4-1 in Adana to an impressive second half performance from Adana Demirspor. Right up until 60 minutes Ankaragucu were in the game and looked like they could go on and win it, but Adana Demirspor stepped up a gear and blew the young Ankaragucu team away.

Team - Gokhan, Orhan, Volkan, Umit, Kaan, Aytac, Muhammed, Bilal, Hasan, Gokhan, Timur

Subs - Bayram, Mehmet, Enes, Artun, Serkan, Umut Nayir

Young Gokhan Akkan celebrated his call up to the Turkish Youth international side by keeping his place in goal ahead of Bayram. In midfield Ankaragucu went with a midfield diamond of Aytac, Muhammed and Bilal. Timur played the lone role up front and gave the Adana defence a difficult night.

The game started very open with both teams going for it, Ankaragucu first with Orhan and Timur setting up Hasan at the back post but the laters cross was knocked behind for a corner. From the resulting corner Adana went on the counter attack and could have scored had Aytac not got back to clear the ball.

Gokhan Akkan made his first save of the night when Evirgen Ercag crossed the ball which Gokhan Karba got onto the end of but Gokhan saved well. Evirgen Ercag was causing all sorts of problems for Ankaragucu down both flanks and for me has been the best player the team have come up against all season. At the other end Timur was causing problems for the Adana defence with his pace.

It must be noted at this point the Adana Demirspor fans were incredible, they made a lot of noise and the stadium was near full. They are a side that look to be going places. Then came the goal, Ercag crossed the ball Juninho and Gokhan Karba headed the ball between each other before Karba took the ball down and blasted past Gokhan. Excellent goal for Adana but the Ankaragucu defence gave them to much time and space.

Ankaragucu went straight up the other end from kick off, Muhammed Turkmen played the ball into Timur Ozgoz who turned and shot but the keeper Sener Ozkan tipped the ball over the bar. Next up was Kaan Kanak to have a go but his shot from distance was saved again by Sener.

Both teams had half chances as they push forward at every attempt, Volkan nearly headed into his own net but Gokhan saved his blushes, at the other end Gokhan Erdogan went past two defenders before shooting straight at the keeper.  Aytac was then put through on goal but he toe poked the ball straight at the goalkeeper when it was easier to score.

Half time 1-0 Adana Demirspor

Into the second half and Ankaragucu started brightly, but it was Adana who nearly scored this time through a 30 yard effort from Ercag but Gokhan dived to his right and tipped the ball round the post. Adana were unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty, Juninho was tripped by Kaan Kanak in the box but the referee booked Juninho for diving.

Then came the Ankaragucu goal, excellent play down the right from Orhan Evci, he went past two defenders before picking out Timur and the striker finished superbly to make it 1-1. A deserved goal and the team looked fired up as they searched for the winning goal.

Off the field Adana fans started to throw objects at the Ankaragucu players and one fan even ran on the pitch before being escorted off by security, it looked like Ankaragucu fans were involved in a bit of trouble with the police to. Back on the pitch Adana stepped up a gear and were just to much for Ankaragucu who looked to tire. Juninho headed just by the post from an Ercag cross just before the later made it 2-1. A lovely cross from deep by Erman saw Ercag run unmarked into the box and head the ball past Gokhan.

Soon later it was 3-1, this time Gokhan tried to put Lawal through on goal but the ball was cleared only as far as Juninho and the Brazilian struck the ball into the top corner past the helpless Gokhan. Ankaragucu made a couple of subs as Serkan and Mehmet replaced Hasan and Aytac. Adana soon made it 4-1 as Juninho was put through on goal before rounding Gokhan and stroking the ball into the net.

Gokhan Erdogan was replaced with Enes Kubat, Ankaragucu had one last chance when Bilal played in Timur who shot into the side netting. Full time 4-1 Adana Demirspor.

A tough lesson for this young Ankaragucu side who now face the impossible task of avoiding relegation. Up next is Tavsanli at home who are also struggling. Nothing more than 3 points will be acceptable.

Referee no help as Gencler lose to Elazig

Genclerbirligi 1 - 2 Elazigspor

It wasn't the best performance of the season and a few of our players need to take a good hard look at themselves in the mirror. By far though the worst performance this evening was from the man in the middle and his two clowns on the sidelines.

I'll have more tomorrow. Plenty of pictures on the way as well.

Ankara given go ahead for new stadium !

Ankara were yesterday given the go ahead by prime minister Tayip Erdogan to start building a new 40,000 seated stadium. It has been discussed for many years that the capital city should have a modern stadium like Istanbul, Bursa, Kayseri and other Turkish Cities.

The project will be headed by both foreign and Turkish architects and the location will be at the 19 Mayis Stadium. The current stadium will be demolished at the end of this season and work will begin straight after. The estimated time of construction is two years.

It remains to be seen if Ankaragucu will play at the new stadium, depending on what League the club are in and if they are still in business will depend on weather they play at the new stadium. It might be a bit of positive news for the club as any new investor looking at a club with a good fan base playing at a new modern stadium could see Ankaragucu as a sleeping giant. Genclerbirligi don't have any concerns and will definitely play at the new stadium.

Some of the new features that the new stadium include transport from both train station and metro to the stadium, fitness centres, a huge under ground car park, cafes and restaurants. Some exciting times ahead, lets just hope Ankaragucu will be there to see it happen.

In other news, it has been mentioned this week that the Gokceks now have a chance of returning to the club. With membership being opened to everyone they are now able to join the club, again the said presidential elections were postponed so the club are still without a current president. The Roman Bednar money hasn't been paid by Bent Ahlat meaning the club could still face a 6 point deduction if its not paid in the coming days.

Ankaragucu vs Adana Demirspor match preview !

Ankaragucu travel to Adana on Sunday for the match against on form Adana Demirspor. After the midweek win over Corum Belediyespor its back to league action as Ankaragucu look for those three points to kick start their season. Currently lying bottom of the table, its important that Ankaragucu start picking up points or face another season of being left behind.

Adana Demirspor kick started their season with an impressive 4-2 win over rivals Adanaspor a few weeks back. They followed that up with impressive wins over Karsiyaka, Manisaspor and Sanliurfaspor. They have however been on the receiving end of a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Kayseri Erciyesspor so its not an impossible task for Ankaragucu.

The 2-0 win over Corum during the week wasn't the most impressive victory in the History of the club as they were taken to extra time after the game ended 0-0. However a clean sheet and confidence for the young players could be the lift they needed. It also gives them the possibility of a game in the next round against the big boys.

The most important thing from the game on Sunday is that the team is organised at the back and solid in midfield. To many goals of late have come from big gaps through the middle of the park or down the wings, and also some costly errors. Adana Demirspor have the players capable of punishing any team in the league. Forwards Juninho and Kaba have already scored 10 goals between them this season.

Umit Kurt again will be a huge player for Ankaragucu, who will also look for performances from the likes of Serkan Sirin, Gokhan Erdogan and Timur Ozgoz. A win for Adana will take them into the play off positions, a win for Ankaragucu will give them a lifeline in the battle against relegation.

Unfortunately i can only see one winner in this game, sometimes its better to go into games with low expectations, and to be fair to Ankaragucu we have performed a lot better against the leagues stronger sides this season.