Ankaragucu complete signing of duo !

Ankaragucu today completed the signings of Mehmet Erdem Ugurlu and Muhammed Gonulacar. The signings show the intent of the Ankaragucu board as they look to push on in the second half of the season as they aim to become champions.

Mehmet Erdem Ugurlu is a striker signed from Polatli Bugsasspor while Muhammed Gonulacar has signed from the brilliantly named Batman Petrolspor. We would like to welcome both players to the club.

Thank You Calvin Sosibo !

Calvin Sosibo could be forgiven for having any ill thoughts toward Ankaragucu, after his move from South Africa in 2009 along with Kagisio Senemela which saw both player leave the club due to unpaid wages. For Sosibo the move to Turkey was one that started promising as he impressed in the 3 games that he played for the club. Signed at the same time as Darius Vassell who also experienced the problems with wages not being paid.

Both Senemela and Sosibo would move back to South Africa to continue their careers while Ankaragucu dropped down the leagues and lost all of their players due to the mis management of the club by Melih Gokcek and Cemal Aydin. Over the last year Mehmet Yiginer has tried to negotiate with former players and management to cut deals with players who were owed money by the club. Calvin Sosibo was one of those players who agreed to take a cut deal on the money owed to him by the club.

You won't hear me say a bad word about any player who doesn't agree to take a cut deal on money owed to them, after all the club owe these players the money. However Calvin and many other players saw the problems the club have faced due to previous regimes, with the club still heavily in debt, it is impossible for the club to pay all those debts in full, plus the interest thats been added on and survive.

I have spoken to Calvin a few times and he has only had good things to say about the club and its fans. He follows this blog along with Timur Ozgoz, Darrius Vassell and other former players all of who have positive things to say about the club and its fans.

With the January transfer window set to open, it allows Ankaragucu to sign players again as they prepare for life next season as well. The transfer ban will be applied again at the end of the season. With Sosibo without a club, if Ankaragucu win promotion it would be nice to see the South African back at the club under the correct circumstances.

We at the Round Ball in Ankara would like to thank Calvin Sosibo for his loyalty and continued support for the club.

Atabey Cicek set for Ankaragucu loan move !

Ankaragucu are set to take Genclerbirligi forward Atabey Cicek on loan when the January transfer window opens. According to Yurtspor Gencler President Ilhan Cavcav has stated that the youth team player will join Ankaragucu on loan until the end of the season.

The highly rated forward has a good goalscoring record for the Turkish Youth national sides. With Levent Kale, Ibrahim Sahin and Umut Nayir the main strikers for Ankaragucu it will give them some competition going into the second half of the season.

In other news, there are talks on the twitter pages about the future of Ankaragucu with the upcoming Congress. Talk is that the club might change its name to Ankaragucu A.S replacing the historic MKE Ankaragucu much to the anger of the fans.

More to come on both stories as they develop...

Why can't we play like this every week?

"Her yer ruşvet, yer yer yolsuzluk," shouted both the Genclerbirligi and Besiktas fans. All brotherly love ... until kick-off that is and then it was back to normal service. During the first half there were worrying reports of gas and water cannons being used in Kizilay but by the time we passed through at about 10:30 pm the police had cleared the place. Don't worry about all that though...

Genclerbirligi 1 - 0 Besiktas

After the massive turnout two weeks ago for the Gencler-Galatasaray match this week it was just me, Flying Dutchman and Little Oz for tonight. Cider Kanka at least joined us for a beer before hand... but hey, where were you all?

The inability of any of us to ever remember that Friday night kick-offs means that there will be lots of traffic is something that amazes me every time I'm sitting in a taxi stuck in traffic 15 minutes before kick-off on a Friday night.

We got in okay with a minute or two to spare, just in time to join in the with the political love-in stuff and then to see Gencler come out with one of those weird banners, you know the type that say "Donate to the anti-cancer fund", or "help a disabled child", or "give peace a chance". This week we had "Make sure you are registered to vote". A reminder? A warning? I don't know.

Kick-off and wooo... Gencler are on the attack. Nice attacking football and some great one-twos. The team was the same as usual and it seems as if they are beginning to gel nicely. My guess is that means we will probably sell half of them off in the next transfer window.

But back to the game this evening and I was liking what I saw.

Two of the three kankas at this evening's match.

The first chance though fell to Besiktas but in the end they didn't even manage to get a shot on the target. It sort of summed up the night in the way that the Besiktas forwards seemed extremely lackadaisical in their attitude and ability to strike the ball. So often they seemed to give Ramazan the softest of saves to make.

Also early on came something I've rarely seen in football. Jimmy took a shot at goal, a bloody hard shot, and it whacked the Besiktas No. 22 (search internet time) and it whacked Ersun Gullum in the head. Most of the Gencler fans thought he was wasting time and the medical staff who came on clearly didn't realise what was happening but this bloke had just had the equivalent of a king hit. He got up and came back on but it was very clear he was concussed, even if none of the Besiktas staff could see it. A few minutes later and even the blindest could see that this bloke was off with the fairies. Off he went.

We continued to play nicely and then almost out of nothing Gosso stole the ball, sort of weirdly passed it to Zec who from the corner of the box swiveled and scored. Bloody hell.

Having gone one-nil up our coach switched things around, sending Zec to the left-wing, Jimmy to the right, put Gosso into a sort of left midfield position and completely buggered up my understanding of the play. I think it was a crap decision but somehow or other we were still managing to get into good attacking positions. A big part of the reason why we were doing well was that Besiktas were playing well below their best... but still.

Not long before half-time we had one hell of a chance that really should have been converted. Tosic had been set free on the left with a defender in front of him and the keeper behind that defender. To his right was Stancu running full pelt and in the perfect position but Tosic mistimed his pass, Stancu had to stop and on the wrong foot sent a cross in when what we wanted to see was a good pass that he could have whacked at full pace at goal. Mmmm..

Anyway, second-half and I was feeling confident that we would go another goal ahead especially when Jimmy played a nice ball to Zec who was by this time playing on the left, Zec sent the perfect ball across the goal, past the keeper and to Stancu who was all of two metres away from goal, kicked it into the ground and over the bloody goal! AAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

We continued attacking and Petkovic forced the Besiktas keeper to make one brilliant save... but as the clock began to run down it was Besiktas who got desperate for a goal. It seemed at times the referee was desperate as well.

We all had a good laugh after the ref gave Besiktas a free kick just outside the box for what had actually been a Besiktas hand ball. The laughing bit came a bit later. All the players were crowded around the ball and Ramazan was at the far post about to organise the wall when a Besiktas player took the free kick and scored. Immediately the referee called it back much to the disgust of the Besiktas players and their supporters. It sort of summed up their night really. When the free kick was taken again Ramazan made a good diving save.

Ramazan made a number of good saves yet again tonight but he really does have to practice kicking the ball to an area within sight of one of our players and not directly to the feet of an opposing player. On at least one occasion tonight a well placed lob would have caught him out.

On we go and Besiktas continued to attack but they didn't really scare us and so at the final whistle we got to sing.

EDIT: I've just watched the highlights and will now admit that the free kick awarded against us was in fact the correct decision. I would like to apologise for any negative comments that I may have made concerning how the the referee should restore his honour by selling simits. Still doesn't explain how all the other 50/50 decisions went Besiktas' way.

A nice away win for Gencler

You do have to worry about referees in Turkey. In the end it didn't affect the result but Antalya were awarded a penalty that was so clearly not on that you wonder if certain "Singapore figures" weren't involved.

Antalyaspor 2 - 3 Genclerbirligi

I think it was actually colder at the Beer bus on Sunday evening then it was at the actual stadium last week. As the Fenerbahce game was on at the same time as ours, us Gencler fans were out in the cold seats... Well, at least the Beer Bus had the match on at all, unlike anywhere else in Kizilay.

First five minutes and Antalya were unlucky not to be two-nil up. Shots were being saved, other chances were missed... Gencler were in disarray. There were moans galore from us fans when Jimmy sent a nicely timed pass to Tosic who sent it back in to Petrovic. Bang and goallll!

It was sort of against the play and the Antalya fans must have been quite pissed off. Actually, where were the Antalya fans? There were bugger all there.

Then about the 30-minute mark they must have been even more pissed off as Ermin Zec sent a cross in to Petrovic who headed it from just inside the box past the diving keeper.

By this stage Gencler were making a number of breaks and we were clearly on top.

Then came the refereeing howler as he pointed to the spot for absolutely nothing.

Having scored from the penalty Antalya were back in it. They were attacking and we were counter attacking. It was looking a bit scary until Tosic sent one in to the big fullback Ante Kulusic who headed it in. 1-3

Match was pretty much over and we were fairly calm (except for the shivering) when Gencler old-boy Isaac Promise was left unmarked and scored with a nice header. It was too late though.

A good away win and much needed three points. Next week will be a tough one against Besiktas at home. Friday night 8pm.

Oh yes... The night was topped off by the fact that ... Fenerbahce lost!

ANKARAGUCU ALMOST FALL INTO THE BROWN SMELLY STUFF, BUT ….. COME UP SMELLING OF ROSES !!!

Team - Bayram Olgun, Metin Aydin, Aytac Oden, Selim Teber, Emre Tasdemir, Mehmet Cakir, Serkan Sirin, Serhat Gulpinar, Kaan Kanak, Ibrahim Sahin, Levent Kale

Subs - Gokhan Akkan, Hasan Ayaroglu, Harun Aydin, Aydin Toscali, Onur Atasayer, Gurkan Alver



Geetings Kankas and Kankies.

Ankaragucu almost came unstuck against a resolute team today, but in the end they did the necessary, ie, …... stick the ball in the net …...... twice !

ANKARAGUCU 2 Bandirmaspor 0

I met up with Paddy Kanka (Paul) coming for his 2^nd ever match and then we were joined by Battle Damaged Kanka Damon pre kick-off.

It was a bloody cold day with freezing fog and it was a wee bit chilly up ma kilt !!!   However, we North Berwick boyz are made of strong stuff and so it was no big deal !

The match was very 'cat and mouse' in the opening 20 minutes and then the match exploded with Ankaragucu missing two chances over the top and past the post due to carelessness by Cakir and Kaan.   

Bandirma was also threatening with two great saves from 'Man of the Match' Bayram in the 22^nd minute and again in the 29^th minute.

Then, just as Bandirma was beginning to gain the upper hand, Ankaragucu struck against the run of play.

A cross came in from the left and Ibo (who I have castigated in the past) rose and headed in to our relief, and bring Maraton back into song ! Against the run of play ? Mmmmm …. yes, but let's not dwell on that !!

2 minutes later and Ankaragucu was awarded a penalty (didn't see the reason so far away from the action, but Nadeem will say …... yes, or …....... no). Mr Reliable, Levent, stepped up and made a scuffed effort which was easily dealt with by the goalie. I suppose there always has to be a situation when this happens, but ….... not this time Levent …...... lutfen !!! Consistency is everything !!

Ankaragucu tails were up now and the Bandirma goal was laid to siege in the last few minutes of the half with Cakir and Kaan blasting the ball over (again) and past the post in good positions.

Bandirma started the 2^nd half looking good and for the first 20 minutes were looking capable of stilling the noise of the tribunes who didn't give up singing.

However, it was Ankaragucu who started to take control and in the 61^st minute it should have been 2. A pin point cross came in from the left to Levent who was lurking in the far post area. He met it perfectly and a goal was assured. Wrong ! The goalkeeper made a miraculous save and we were left looking aghast at each other !

Bandirma wasn't finished and were unlucky not to equalise on 64 minutes when a goalmouth aberration was finally cleared when a lucky foot came out to clear the ball to safety,.

Then, when nerve ends were jangling …... Emre came to the rescue. An attacking move down the left gave Emre the opportunity of coming into the penalty box and curling a great shot around the goalkeeper into the far right corner for a truly wonderful goal.

Ankaragucu was fortunate to be 2-0 up, but ….............. at least the ball had been despatched to its rightful place, ie …...... between the sticks !!

Ankaragucu then played the 'run the clock down' system well until the final whistle and I suppose we can be happy with the result against a very good Bandirma team. Btw, they had about 100 fans in the away end, but they really didn't have much to sing about !!

Back we went to Crossroads for celebrations for a welcome Ankaragucu win, and …........ to celebrate Damon's birthday. We were joined by Brat Kankie Laura, Ejder Kankie Aysen and Cider Kanka John.

The only downside to spoil the evening was news that Altinordu and Alanya had also won. Not to worry says I …....... we still have a long way to go and we are in a good position to leap out of the tracks at the end of the winter shut-down and continue where we left off !

Btw, on a style note …..... Damon was wearing a fetching and luvvvly pair of ear warmers at the match today. Another point for him in the race to be 'Most Stylish Kanka of the Year'

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Ankaragucu vs Bandirmaspor match preview !

Ankaragucu host Bandirmaspor on Sunday at the 19 Mayis stadium in the last game before the winter break. Both teams have had a good first half of the season and are looking to close the gap on the leaders Altinordu and Alanyaspor. The last two times Ankaragucu have faced one of the leaders they have won 1 and lost 1 with the win coming against Altinordu and the defeat against Alanyaspor.

Last week was another good win for Ankaragucu as they won 2-0 at Altay and another clean sheet to make things even more impressive. Bandirmaspor are on a good run themselves having won their last two games against Altay and Kizilcahamamspor. Their start player is German born midfielder Tayfor Bingol who is also a former Genclerbirligi player.

The Ankaragucu team should be much the same as the last couple of games. Bayram will keep his place in goal, with Aytac and Selim set to be the central defence pairing. Up from Levent Kale will start but Umut Nayir picked up an injury so is doubtful. If Ankaragucu play to their full potential it should be another 3 points on the board. Going into the winter break with a minimum of 2 points off the leaders sets the team up nicely for the second half of the season.

The game will again be shown live on Baskent TV. Kick off time is 1330 Turkish time. The Kanka group will be attending the game as usual in their usual part of the stadium. Lets hope they are there to cheer on another win for Ankaragucu.

Stancu celebrates

I did like this photo.

Ankaragucu 2-0 Altay Match Report !

Three wins in a row and 3 cleans sheets as Ankaragucu came away from Altay today with the 3 points after a very disciplined and hard working 2-0 win. Fuat Aykuz has also maintained his undefeated start to his Ankaragucu career. There is no doubting that since he has come in he has shored up the defence. Players like Volkan Geyik and Aydin Toscali will need to up their game if they want back in the starting line up. Bayram Olgun kept his 3rd clean sheet in as many games since he was reinstated to the first team.

Team - Bayram Olgun, Metin Aydin, Aytac Oden, Selim Teber, Emre Tasdemir, Serhat Gulpinar, Serkan Sirin, Kaan Kanak, Mehmet Cakir, Umut Nayir, Kale Leventowski

Subs - Gokhan Akkan, Onur Atasayer, Aydin Toscali, Harun Aydin, Hasan Ayaroglu, Gurkan Alver, Gokhan Erdogan

The manager brought Kaan Kanak back into the starting line up in place of Hasan Ayaroglu while Umut Nayir partnered Levent Kale up front as Harun Aydin was dropped to the bench. Altay is a difficult place for any team to go and win, a decent crowd at the Alsancak stadium and another good traveling support from Ankaragucu who again were praised for their behaviour.

The first half was a bit of a bore with neither Goalkeeper having much to do. The Ankaragucu defence looked solid and never gave anything away. Selim Teber moving to the back has made the difference, his experience and he can also play with the ball at his feet which is a big plus.

Both teams went in at half time level 0-0

Within minutes of the restart Ankaragucu had taken the lead, a good cross from the left was headed past the Goalkeeper by Serhat Gulpinar who sent the traveling support into wild celebrations. Still there was plenty time for Altay to come back into the match. The Ankaragucu team were having none of it, apart from a shot over by Mesut and a header by Mustafa which was straight into the arms of Bayram, Ankaragucu strolled through the rest of the game.

Ankaragucu made it 2-0 on the 64th minute through Leventowski The big striker got onto the end of a Kaan Kanak cross to head the ball into the top corner. Ankaragucu made many signings in the summer but Levent Kale has got to be the pick of them. His work rate is outstanding and he knows where the net is.

For the remainder of the match Ankaragucu were very comfortable with the home side never threatening. The home fans booed their players and even fought amongst themselves due to the anger of whats happening with their one time Super Lig club. Sounds familiar.

My frozen toes are grateful that we won't be playing at home for a while... Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Galatasaray

There were a lot of Istanbul cocukları out today. They were able to sing well, but really... your team is supposed to be one of the best in Turkey, you are riding high in the league, you just knocked Juventus out of the Champion's League but despite the fact you couldn't win against a team as lowly as Genclerbirligi you still went ahead with calls for the team to come over after the match. Do you really follow football? You are all Ankara people. You should be supporting Ankara teams. What you should not be doing is spending obscene amounts of money on official Galatasaray merchandise, going to one match a season and then at that match swear at true Ankara football fans. Ankara fans of Istanbul teams, with very few exceptions, are just simply pathetic.

Having said that, thanks for the gate receipts.

Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Galatasaray

If the Genclerbirligi bus had got stuck in traffic on the way to the ground things would still have been okay because us Kankas could have filled in. The Beer Bus was taken over as we had Flying Dutchman Kanka in goal, Carl at left back, Steve at fullback, Spine at fullback, Dan the Man at right back, Mark on the left wing, David in the centre, Our Finnish friend as the other centre, Oguz at right wing, and Aiden in a sort of slot behind your good correspondent who simply stood around doing nothing much for most of the match but was ready to take all the GLORY!!!

Fortunately the Gencler bus did arrive and we kicked off positively enough but it could have been for nothing when Schneider sent quite a good chance flying over the goal. I only know that it was Schneider thanks to the kids behind me (children belonging to us Kankas that is) actually recognising the Galatasaray players... I didn't say it at the time but ... "Istanbul cocukları!".

We even had the ball boys and girls.
Anna, Matthew, Tanner and Ville

It was only a few moments later though when it was us Gencler fans who were leaping for joy when it was some simply nice passing from Jimmy to Petkovic to Stancu who took a shot from a difficult angle that the diving keeper couldn't save.

One-nil up after only six minutes or so and well... could this be another amazing giant-killing performance? What was especially weird was the fact that for the last few weeks we have been absolutely crap.

Us Gencler fans, even those who had forked out 75 lira for the Maraton tickets, would have been very glad for the referee to blow his whistle there and then. It was below zero after all and the idea of going to a nice warm and cosy pub was very tempting. The Gencler players probably felt the same and while it was true that from that goal onwards our players were, at best, not the quickest to get balls back into play, we still played with attacking intent.

Our midfield was good with Gosso delivering good ball. The defence was solid, with Ferhat on the right particularly good, but yet again our last attacking force just wasn't good enough. Our blokes either took too long to get crosses in or else sent them too far. Perhaps Zec on the right should have been more attacking to get to some of the crosses... perhaps the player kicking the ball should have gone for a player, not a space.

But really, all this is me being picky. We played well, there was some wonderful individual football, some woeful refereeing (when has there not been) and it was a good crowd of maybe 15,000 watching what was a fun match.

Galatasaray got back in the second half thanks to yet the latest old-age pensioner to have some sort of Golden Pond moment at Galatasaray - Drogba. No complaints from me on that one. It was a decent cross in and Drogba, pretty much unmarked, simply headed it in.

We continued to play half-decent footy but couldn't really get many real chances. Just toward the end though Galatasaray really had us sweating. They were getting damn good shots off left, right and centre and if it wasn't for the heroics of Ramazan in goal we would have been toast. In the last three minutes I think he pulled off three match-saving saves. --- does that count as alliteration? ---

The referee blows the match up and us Gencler fans are pretty happy that we were able to stave off the kind of ugly result of something like what happens when England send a team of cricketers to Australia.

True Galatasaray fans, those from Istanbul, would have been disgusted with the result.... The mob there tonight were merely pleased to be seen on TV wearing their official merchandise.

As for us Gencler fans? Perhaps not delighted... but a point against Galatasaray is probably about all we we could have hoped for.      
 

Ankaragucu vs Altay match preview !

Tomorrows match will see Ankaragucu take on Altay in Izmir as they look to maintain their food form of late with another win. Like Ankaragucu the home side Altay who were the last Izmir club to play in the Super Lig have had tough times of late due to financial problems. This season so far Altay have had a start stop campaign. Last week they lost at home 3-1 against Bandirmaspor.

Altay have some good players in their side like top scorer Murat Uluc and Mustafa Cevahir. They sit just outside the playoff positions, but a win or possibly a draw could see them climb into a playoff place. A good crowd will be expected for tomorrows match between the two biggest clubs in Lig 2.

A good 3-0 win for Ankaragucu last week at home to Iskenderun will give them the confidence going into the match, another clean sheet will also lift the team. It will be interesting to see the starting line up with so many players fighting to get into the team. Emre Tasdemir has moved back into defence with Onur Atasayer and Mehmet Tasci both dropped to the bench. Hasan Ayaroglu continues to show inconsistency as does Kaan Kanak.

One player you have to give praise to is Bayram Olgun, he came under pressure from the fans after some poor performances last season, but he has showed loyalty to the club by signing a new contract, and also remained patient as he claimed back the number 1 jersey from Gokhan Akkan. In the two starts he has kept 2 clean sheets.

Tomorrows match will be another 1330 kick off Turkish time, last week i got the prediction spot on, this week I'm going for 1-1. Altay is a tough place to go to and with them raising there game for the arrival of Ankaragucu it could be a decent point.

ANKARAGUCU RESPOND TO NADEEM'S PREDICTION !

Team - Bayram Olgun, Metin Aydin, Selim Teber, Aytac Oden, Emre Tasdemir, Serhat Gulpinar, Harun Aydin, Serkan Sirin, Mehmet Cakir, Hasan Ayaroglu, Levent Kale

Subs - Gokhan Akkan, Umut Nayir, Onur Atasayer, Aydin Toscali, Kaan Kanak, Gurkan Alver, Gokhan Erdogan


Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

However, it could so easily have been 4, especially in the last 10 minutes when Ankaragucu battered the Iskenderun goal, and but for poor finishing from Mehmet and goalkeeper heroics it could even have been FIVE.

ANKARAGUCU    3     Iskenderunspor    0

I arrived in the Stadium to be met by Boston Kanka Russell and then Cider Kanka John.    Battle Damaged Kanka was 'illness damaged' and couldn't make it.   We all hope he is back on his feet again soon.

Gecikondu was full (as always), Maraton was almost full and there were TWO lonely souls in the away end who were being kept company by two policemen !

It was a bitterly cold day after the snow yesterday and all that was missing was some Laphroaig to tip into our tea to warm our insides !

It was an edgy start for Ankaragucu with Iskenderun not content to play the sitting duck.   All end to end stuff and then the game exploded in the 15th minute with a disputed penalty for Ankaragucu.   Even though it was in our line of sight, we couldn't see exactly what the infringement was due to the crowded penaltly area, but I would guess that the referee saw a hand ball.

After 2 yellow cards and lots of protestation, Levent stepped up and coolly despatched the ball into the left corner.

Iskenderun didn't buckle and kept the pressure on, and to be perfectly honest, it was a relief when the referee blew for half time.

Ankaragucu was a wee bit fortunate to go in 1-0 up at half time.   Iskenderun had always looked dangerous in the final third and was giving as good as they got.

Into the 2nd half and Ankaragucu started more positively and I was impressed with their chasing and harrying.    Obviously the half time team talk had the desired effect !!

15 minutes into the 2nd half and the crucial goal arrived.   A great through ball down the centre for Levent to chase and he latched onto it, took it in his stride, and drove a great shot into the corner for the 2nd goal.

This was the signal for Ankaragucu to take control of the game and I was impressed with the way they were spreading the ball around and making Iskenderun chase the game.

The 3rd goal arrived on the 78th minute mark after a great passing movement which ended up with a low hard hit right wing cross which was tucked in by Umut with the goalkeeper helpless.

It was all Ankaragucu now with Mehmet missing two great chances to make it 4 and the Iskenderun goalkeeper making two great saves.

Final whistle and back to the Chopin to celebrate where we learned the great news that Alanya could only manage a draw today.    The pressure is ON now and the Ankaragucu players have made a statement of intent !

The show is back on the road again and Ankaragucu can go to Izmir next weekend full of confidence in their own ability to stick that round thingie in the back of the net yessssssssssssssss !!!

Another 3 points pleeeeezzzzzz !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

PS ......... Althought the whole team played well today, I forgot to mention that Metin was my Man of the Match for his 100% contribution in defence and attack.   His passing was excellent and I think we can say that we have found a gem of an attacking full back !

Ankaragucu vs Iskenderun Demir Celikspor match preview !

Ankaragucu welcome Iskenderun Demir Celikspor to the 19 Mayis Stadium on Sunday afternoon looking to make it 2 wins in a row and put their title hopes back on track. After winning 2-0 at Bozuyukspor last weekend, the team will now be looking to go on a winning run and put Alanyaspor and Altinordu under pressure.

The visitors have lost their last two games at home to Altay and away at Bandirmaspor, their last two wins have been both on the road at Bozuyukspor and Ofspor. Like every other game in this Lig, Ankaragucu will need to show the visitors respect, keep it tight at the back and take their chances up top.

Last weekend Fuat Aykuz dropped a number of players including, Volkan Geyik, Aydin Toscali, Onur Atasayer and Gokhan Akkan. The coach brought in Metin Aydin to partner Gurkan Alver at the back while Bayram Olgun reclaimed the number 1 spot in goal. With the team keeping a clean sheet it will be difficult for any of those players dropped to return to the starting line up this weekend.

Umut Nayir is also back in full training and will be available for selection, its no coincidence that since his injury that the team has struggled to win games. He leads the line and holds the ball up taking the pressure off the midfield and defence. He will be hoping to come into the starting line up and join Levent Kale who has been on excellent form scoring 6 goals from 9 games this season.

The game will be shown live on Baskent TV 1330 kick off Turkish time, 1130 UK Time. The Kanka group will be going to the stadium to show their support for the team. Anyone who wishes to join them should contact the blog for details where to meet.

Ankaragucu 2-0 Bozoyukspor match report !

Ankaragucu returned to winning ways today with a 2-0 win at Bozoyukspor. With Altinordu and Alanyaspor both winning it was important that Ankaragucu won to keep up with the leaders. Fuat Aykuz made a host of changes with Aydin Toscali, Onur Atasayer, Selim Teber, Kaan Kanak and Gokhan Akkan all dropped.

Team - Bayram Olgun, Aytac Oden, Metin Aydin, Gurkan Alver, Emre Tasdemir, Serkan Sirin, Harun Aydin, Serhat Gulpinar, Hasan Ayaroglu, Mehmet Cakir, Lvent Kale

Subs - Gokhan Akkan, Kaan Kanak, Onur Atasayer, Aydin Toscali, Batuhan Akyildiz, Umut Nayir, Gokhan Erdogan

So the manager making a host of changes and sending out the message that no one is to good to be dropped from this team if they are not performing. Ankaragucu lead 1-0 through Levent Kale going into half time.

Into the second half and it was Mehmet Cakir who scored the second goal to give Ankaragucu the 3 points and their first win in 5 league games. As discussed on the Round Ball in Ankara Facebook page after the game, its important that Ankaragucu keep winning and gain ground on Altinordu and Alanyaspor going into the winter break.

Next up is Iskenderun at home next week, we will have the match preview midweek as we look ahead at what Ankaragucu can expect from the visitors.