ANKARAGUCU MAKES A STATEMENT OF INTENT

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Team - Bayram Olgun, Metin Aydin, Erhan Guven, Selim Teber, Emre Tasdemir, Serhat Gulpinar, Volkan Yilmaz, Mehmet Cakir, Umut Nayir, Levent Kale, Mehmet Erdem

Subs - Gokhan Akkan, Kaan Kanak, Hasan Ayaroglu, Aydin Toscali, Omer Yalcin, Serkan Sirin, Ibrahim Sahin

It was an extraordinary feeling when I arrived at the Stadium today. Two amateur matches were being played on the Astro Turf pitches outside the Stadium and on a …. Wednesday afternoon ! Doesn't anyone work on a Wednesday I asked myself ?

As I was watching I was met by Gecikondu Kanka Ozan's dad and his friends. Obviously, they send their best regards to the kankas, especially Nadeem and John who visited them in their home not so long ago.

Into the Stadium to see the new 'sexy' scoreboard which Oz Kanka mentioned last week. Lottsa Dirilis badges !!

An amazing turnout for a Wednesday afternoon with Gecikondu full and Maraton almost full. I counted 12 souls in the away end !

I was joined in the Stadium by old friend Murat Kaya and his friend Ismet. Incidentally, Ismet's father is the man who wrote the famous 'History of Ankaragucu' book, which obviously is a MUST READ for all Ankaragucu fans.

The match kicked off in February sunshine and passing clouds, and as I said last week, freaky Spring Time weather for Winter in Ankara.

It was pretty much end to end stuff until the 16^th minute when we had the usual Bursaspor chorus, but 2 minutes later Ankaragucu should have opened the scoring. A great run down the left by Man of the Match by a mile, Emre, and the cut back to Levent, but his poor shot was easily cleared.

Emre was causing all sorts of problems for the Bugsas defence but all his good work was being wasted in the final third. It was all huff and puff from both teams until shortly before half time when the break through finally came.

There was a foul on the perimeter of the Bugsas penalty area, which for me, was inside the box. However, the referee chickened out and gave the free kick on the line..... cluck cluck cluck. Much screaming and shouting from the tribunes with me included.

The free kick was taken by Erdem on the right of the penalty box and he curled a beauty into the top left hand corner of the goal to open the scoring in spectacular style.

Half time with tea a la Murat and then into the 2^nd half. 5 minutes in and Bayram got into the action by making his first serious save of the match. Perhaps that's an injustice on Bugsas because they looked pretty good on the ball, but the Ankaragucu defence was in fine form today to thwart their attacks.

10 minutes into the 2^nd half and the game was made safe. A school boy error from one of the Bugsas defenders allowed the ball to squirm away to Volkan Yilmaz who had a one-on-one with the goalkeeper and slid the ball into the right corner for the 2^nd goal. Cue …. quadraphonic chants from the 4 tribunes yesssssssssssss.

20 minutes later it should have been 3 when Emre picked up the ball in the centre circle and went on a mazy run past defenders and only a finger tip save from the goalkeeper prevented the goal.

Into the last minute of the match and it should have been 3 again when a cross came in and (couldn't see who it was) the Ankaragucu forward had a goal bound header tipped over by the goalkeeper in what was the save of the match.

Time added on and everyone heading for the exits, but not Eski. I wasn't convinced that it was a done deal with Bugsas still pressing for a goal.

Then, after a Bugsas attack had petered out, there was an Ankaragucu breakaway with Kaan chasing down the right wing with defender haring after him. Time to look up and deliver a cross which was helped on its way to Emre lurking on the left. Time to put his head down, foot over the ball and deliver it into the right corner for another great goal.

Well done lads. First half not so good, but a professional performance in the 2^nd half to thwart a handy Bugsas team.

It will need that type of effort next Monday in BOTH halves to secure a win against Altinordu.

Back to Tunali to celebrate the victory and …... ooops …. almost forgot …......my daughter's birthday !!

Might have some photos to put up later.

All the best from a happy Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU - HANGIN ON IN THERE !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

A convincing win in the end for Ankaragucu today .........

ANKARAGUCU   3      Bugsas    0

Once again, Emre was the star of the show causing chaos down the left and centre.    He really is becoming a prize asset and hopefully not about to move in the foreseeable future or ...... far future !

It's my daughter's birthday today so I'm otherwise engaged tonight.    Report will be up either tonight later (if I'm sober) or tomorrow !

All to play for now next Monday against Altinordu.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Ankaragucu vs Polatli Bugsasspor match preview !

Ankaragucu return to action this Wednesday afternoon at home to Polatli Bugsasspor as they look to get back to winning after their disappointing defeat at Nazilli yesterday. Polatli are on a 3 game winning run having beaten Bozoyukspor, Iskenderun and Altay in their last 3 matches. Another difficult game for Ankaragucu as the visitors are looking to strengthen their playoff chances.

As i said on the match report for the Nazilli game, it was a disappointing result for Ankaragucu, they need to start winning these tricky games instead of just beating the teams at the bottom and middle half of the table. Fuat Aykuz needs to learn from his mistakes from that game with his decision to drop Levent Kale for the second game running. Levent should be brought straight back into the team to partner Umut up top. Ankaragucu look more dangerous with both forwards in the starting line up.

The last time the two sides met it was Levent Kale who scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win for Ankaragucu at Polatli. Gokhan Akkan was the man of the match that day having made some excellent saves to give Ankaragucu the 3 points.

Mehmet Erdem will be up against his former team and after a good start to his Ankaragucu career he will be looking to get one over his former team. Its hard to predict who will be in the starting line up with Fuat Aykuz. No one seems to be guaranteed a starting place which is a good thing, but he needs to find his best 11 and stick to that team. Ankaragucu are 3 points behind leaders Altinordu, but a win over Polatli can take them back joint top for at least 1 night. Altinordu travel to Altay on Thursday before the big game on Sunday between Ankaragucu and Altinordu.

This week is the biggest week of the season for Ankaragucu, their season could either be back on track or finished by 4pm on Sunday. Kick off between Ankaragucu vs Polatli is 1330 Turkish time and the game will be shown live on Baskent TV.

Come on AG lets get the 3 points !!

Ankaragucu 0-1 Nazilli match report !

Ankaragucu went down 1-0 in Nazilli today as the home side extended their remarkable unbeaten record to 19 games. Altinordu won 2-1 at home against Iskenderun yesterday while Alanyaspor lost 2-1 at Pazarspor.

Team - Bayram Olgun, Erhan Guven, Selim Teber, Serhat Aykuz, Emre Tasdemir, Mehmet Cakir, Serhat Gulpinar, Volkan Yilmaz, Mehmet Erdem, Serkan Sirin, Umut Nayir

Subs - Gokhan Akkan, Metin Aydin, Aydin Toscali, Kaan Kanak, Hasan Ayaroglu, Levent Kale, Omer Yalcin

There was no live coverage of todays game so we had to make do with updates from Twitter and Facebook. According to the reports Ankaragucu dominated the first half with 6 shots on goal while Nazilli only had the 1. Both Umut Nayir and Mehmet Cakir went close.

The teams went in 0-0 at half time though and Fuat Aykuz was coming in for some stick due to leaving top scorer Levent Kale on the bench for the second game running despite him scoring 2 last week.

Into the second half and again it was Ankaragucu who were still the stronger team and at one point having 11 shots on goal to Nazillis 2. The game looked to be heading for a 0-0 draw until Tuhan Zahid Arslan scored for Nazilli to make it 1-0 with 10 minutes remaining.

The result stayed that way and a disappointing result for Ankaragucu in their battle for the championship. Next up is a home game on Wednesday against Polatli before next Monday nights game against leaders Altinordu. If Ankaragucu are to win the championship they need to start winning the big games. They have failed to beat Diyarbakir BB, Tepecikspor, Alanyaspor and now Nazilli who are tough teams.

The Ankaragucu management team have spent a lot of money building this squad for Lig 2, they should be sitting at the top with the quality and experience they have. Lets hope this is a kick up the bum they need.

Arrrrgggghhhhhh

Dear new people to Ankara. This weather is not normal. Watching a footy match in the warm sun, jackets off, just the t-shirt... in February? This is only ever done in the southern hemisphere ... or in Newcastle, England. But this is a very weird year.

I've taken the time to check out the weather from the past seven years... not from some biased parallel state Meteorology Department
but from a trusted source... this very blog!

Feb 17 - 2013
... and so it was with gloves and scarves and jackets and thermal underwear and other stuff that @Spinesideburn and Bernard joined me at the Beer Bus for today's match...

Feb 19, 2012
A feeling of deja vu for lonely Eski Kanka (the Lone Ranger) as he braved a very cold (but snow-less) afternoon yesterday to witness another goal-less match by Ankaragucu.

Feb 21, 2011
A pretty miserable day on Saturday for Ankara in general. The weather was cold and wet and our two teams both went down.

Feb 21, 2010
As I write this, it is pissing down with rain in Ankara and so there will be no kankas at the uncovered Stadium from Hell today. (this was rthe horror season when both Gencler and Ankaragucu played out at Yenikent) 

Feb 22, 2009
The (Red Lion) club was filling up nicely for the (beer) festival but some of us had more important things written down in our agendas... well except for Emin and Spine who decided that they preferred to stay in the nice warm club drinking English ales rather then venture out into the snow to watch Genclerbirligi.

Feb 23, 2008

The week started with snow and freezing temperatures

Feb 26, 2007

A perfect sunny day in Ankara saw the Kankas come out in force. Down at the Chopin we had Arja, Roger, Spine, French Kanka Hande, Scott, Rob and young son Stephen, Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo, Genc Kanka Eddie and of course Eski Kanka Jim.

You know which post those climate change deniers are going to pounce on? Don't you?

Genclerbirligi 2 - 2 Konyaspor

Can't be bothered reading about the first half? Spine's face says it all.

Carl, Spine, myself and Little Oz Kanka enjoyed a fine half-hour session down at the Beer Bus. Did I mention it was nice and warm?

First half and well... that was all a bit crap.

But we do have a new scoreboard. Doesn't do much more than the old one and it took them ages to figure out how to do some of the more complicated graphics stuff, like updating the score, but still, I guess it meant the Sports Bakanlik weren't completely shameless in putting up posters around the ground boasting how many stadiums the AKP have built around the country. Guess how many of those were in Ankara. None? Correct.  

Konya came out firing and it took us two minutes before we even got the ball. Admittedly when we did we were immediately dangerous. Tomic was looking good and Zec was getting some great runs down the left. But we couldn't get the shots on goal.

We seemed to be flaffing around a bit when a defensive stuff up opened up Konya's first shot... Unlike us, they made no mistake and bang 0-1 down.

The second Konya goal came in injury time of the first half. I was all a bit of a stuff up. We should have done much better.

But we had some bad defending and quite frankly we deserved to be down... even if we had been creatively the much better team.

Second half and it was completely different. Tosic and Yunus were off... Mervan and someone else were on... and in general we looked a lot better.

Almost straight away. Petkovic free kick, onto Stancu who just tapped it in. Nice stuff.

And then the attacks came and came and came. At times we were unlucky. At others, shots were going straight to the Konya keeper, Mr. T. It was all very frustrating until Zec was bundled over in the box. Ref pointed to the spot and gooooaallllll. 2-2.



This was now a winnable match. We were all over Konya. We had at least two chances that you would bet the wife on but .... arrgghhh. The first was when Stancu did brilliantly to get around the keeper and shoot into an empty goal (at a slight but not much of an angle). He hit the post. Right towards the end Jimmy was free, just him and the keeper and not far out and Jimmy blasted it halfway to where the military were practicing their parachuting.

The Konya fans were from Konya, and therefore dickheads in the main, and at one stage they decided to compare us to Ankaragucu and I'm proud to say that the Gencler crowd, that's the whole crowd including the various leftist groups, sang their support for Gucu. There have been the odd small groups shouting pro-Ankaragucu stuff for years at Gencler matches but this was the first time all of us were singing.    

Extremely frustrating match. The coach Mehmet Ozdelik said later that we should have won five or six - two. I'd have to agree with him. We have a very difficult end of the season... we have away matches to Besiktas, Galatasaray, Trabzon and Fenerbahce. Not taking the full three points from teams like Konya could be fatal.

Ankaragucu vs Nazilli match preview !

Nazilli Belediyespor have remarkably went on an 18 match unbeaten run since they last played Ankaragucu at the 19 Mayis Stadium back in October. They have played their way into the playoff places and will be looking to extend that fantastic run. Two goals from Umut Nayir gave Ankaragucu a 2-1 win the last time the two sides met, but things will be much tougher with the return game being in Nazilli.

Ankaragucu themselves are on good form with 7 wins and 1 draw in their last 8 games. Last weeks impressive 4-1 win over Korfez suggests Ankaragucu have enough about them to go and win the game in Nazilli. As the weeks go by Ankaragucu look more and more like the complete team. A strong defence that was badly lacking in the first half of the season, a lot of creativity and experience in midfield, and strikers who cant stop scoring.

As i said last week young Emre Tasdemir is going from strength to strength and his performances will have won many admirers from the Super Lig. I was also impressed with Mehmet Erdem whose skill and creativity adds another dimension to the left hand side of the Ankaragucu attack.

Altinordu are at home to Iskenderun on Saturday while Alanyaspor travel to Pazarspor, both games in which you would expect Altinordu and Alanya to win. Their is no doubting Ankaragucu have the toughest game of the weekend. But these are games a championship winning team needs to win.

Ankaragucu are also at home to Polatli Bugsasspor on Wednesday at 1130 in a strange kick off time. Like the Turkish Cup games most people will be working but yet again the Turkish FA couldn't care less about the average fan who wants to go and watch their team.

My prediction this weekend is a 1-0 win for Ankaragucu, it is going to be tough to break that impressive form of Nazilli but Ankaragucu have enough quality to go their and win.

Say No to Gokcek ! Say no to Ankaraspor !

The Round Ball in Ankara doesn't participate in any Political talk and to be fair this isn't really about politics, its more to do with saving Ankaragucu from someone who nearly killed them. Mayor of Ankara is up for election to remain as Mayor of Ankara and typically has started talking worrying nonsense of how he wants to change the name of Ankaraspor to Ankaragucu.

This is the same man who was ordered to leave Ankaragucu by the courts due to an alleged illegal takeover. The same man who left the club with Millions of pounds of debt, the same man who when in their hour of need refused to help Ankaragucu, and the same man who said Ankaragucu would go to the amateur leagues.

Melih is now talking of how he still loves Ankaragucu and that when Ankaraspor are promoted to the Super Lig next season he will look to change their name to Ankaragucu. These are worrying times for the club and fans. Back in 2004 the same thing happened with the Kayseri clubs. With Kayseri Erciyesspor sitting above Kayserispor they changed their names much to the anger of both sets of fans. Ten years later both teams are back in the Super Lig and the crowds rarely go above 10,000.

With Ankaragucu sitting 2nd in Lig two and on course for a return to the PTT Lig the fans have turned out in their numbers. Their are more fans turning up to the games than when they were in the Super Lig. The last couple of home games have seen more than 17,000 at the games and its expected to remain that way until the end of the season. The credit for that has to go to Mehmet Yiginer, he has done a fantastic job along with his management team.

But the worrying thing is his friendship with Melih Gokcek, has his work been genuine, or has he been a front man for Melih Gokcek with the end result always being the change of names of the merge between the two clubs. Ankaraspor are sitting at the top of the PTT Lig and have no fans turning up at their games. You are lucky if they get more than 1,000 people turning up.

We need the fans to show their resistance to any compromise on the History of Ankaragucu. The club have been going for 104 years and someone like Melih Gokcek should never be allowed to jeopardise that. We Ankaragucu fans would rather remain in the lower leagues with our pride and history, than return to the Super Lig with a name change. Anyone who backs Melih and his plans just remember you are really supporting Ankaraspor who have stolen then name of a historic club.

2,000 UP ........... LET'S CELEBRATE !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Let's say ........ congratulations to the Blog for reaching the 2,000 posts !

This blog was Oz Kanka's 'brain child' and so we should say congratulations to him first.    There have been many contributors to the posts and comments and we also congratulate them too.

Let's keep it going for the 3,000 mark !

btw, now that we've reached this landmark, is it not time to be thinking about a reunion of all the kankas new and old ?

One of the 'olde boys' who brought Bilkent to the Group was Kirkcaldy Kanka Martyn and he mentioned on fb that he wants to make a return visit.    Bellshill Kanka Nadeem followed up with a promise to try and be here for Martyn's visit.

So, what better time to do this than Ankaragucu's last home match of the season when they have hopefully be crowned Champions.

Food for thought ?  

Calling all you kankas..... Mountaineering Kankas Robbie and Judy, Phillie Kanka Jamie, Connect Kanka Steve, Baggie Kanka Dave, and ....... have I missed anyone ????

It goes without saying that we include the Gencler Kankas in this and we will include them in any reunion if it takes place.

Comments awaited kankas !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU 'SHINE' IN THE FEBRUARY SUNSHINE !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

It felt like a Scottish Spring day in Ankara today so Jim took the Scottish Saltire to the Stadium for Nadeem and the photo will follow soon. It's not quite as large as the flag Nadeem brings, but …. the thought is there !

I arrived in the Stadium to be met by Apple Kanka Erman and his buddy Mehmet, and later joined by Battle Damaged Kanka Damon. (Cider Kanka John was in Germany supporting Freiberg against Bayern !!). My great friend Murat Kaya and his wife was also there and photos were taken – they will probably be up on fb.

All the tribunes were full, especially Gecikondu and Maraton where there were no spare seats. Also, a great turnout by the Korfez fans ….. I counted 15 !!!

ANKARAGUCU 4 Korfez 1

Team – Bayram, Serhat A, Erhan, Serhat G, Telim, Volkan, Mehmet E, Emre, Muhammed, Umut and Mehmet Cakir

Substitutes used – Levent, Kaan and Hasan

Ankaragucu showed their intentions from the whistle and that was ….. all out attack. It was fast and furious and Korfez was restricted to breakaways with Bayram watching the ball go over or past. It was the same at the other end with the Ankaragucu forwards blasting over and wide.

Great to hear the Bursaspor song on the 16^th minute from all tribunes !

Ankaragucu was enjoying the lion's share of possession and the break through almost came on the 25^th minute when Mehmet Cakir sent in a fierce shot but only inches wide of the post.

Umut should have done better on the 30^th minute mark when he had a great chance, but he lost control of the ball and it gave the defender that second to intercept and clear the danger.

The break through arrived 5 minutes later when a Korfez defender was adjudged to have made hand contact with the ball in a goal mouth melee. All credit to the referee (who had an excellent match) for having no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

With Levent on the subs bench, it was left to Umut to step up to the mark. He coolly placed the ball into the right corner with the goalkeeper nowhere.

It took until the 44^th minute for Bayram to make his first save of the match, diving bravely at the feet of the incoming attacker to smother the ball.

One minute later it was TWO. A cross from the left and Volkan was on hand to flick the ball into the net ahead of the defenders.

So, in all honesty, at half time, a fair result on the balance of play and chances created.

During the half time break we had a visit from Muammer and his daughter who brought a present for my wife and I. He was referring to the lady who was sitting beside me for the Eyupspor match 2 weeks ago and who he assumed was my wife. None other than Naarrich Kankie Lucy !! So, now, Lucy, you will be officially know as Lucy Chalmers in the Stadium !!! He gave us 2 scarves and I will present yours Lucy when you come to our next home match ! This only goes to show how famous the Kanka Group is in the Stadium

5 minutes into the 2^nd half and …... a RED card to the Korfez No 8. He brought down an Ankaragucu player and, fair play, it was a yellow, and that's what he got. However, he didn't accept it and obviously said something unsavoury to the referee and then pulled his shirt up in a show of dissent and received another yellow. OFF ….... to much cheering from the tribunes !

5 minutes later and Bayram pulled off his 2^nd save of the match to thwart a dangerous cross cum shot with Korfez attackers lurking.

The match was then put beyond Korfez in the 62^nd minute when Erdem produced some nifty footwork on the left to bamboozle 3 defenders and sending in a peach of a cross for Levent to nod in at the near post. (Levent had just joined the fray a few minutes earlier).

Korfez were not lying down and it took another good save from Bayram to deny them on the the 70^th minute. However, 2 minutes later he could not be blamed when Korfez opened their account. The Korfez No 10 who is a really good player, went on a great run and carved open a space in the Ankaragucu defence to score a spectacular goal.

It was at this stage in the game when Ankaragucu was showing a distinct lack of urgency and even after Korfez scored I was contemplating another Korfez goal, and even with only 10 men.

Fortunately, Ankaragucu snapped out of their lethargy and the 4^th goal arrived 6 minutes from the end.

It was a similar piece of skill shown by Erdem earlier, but this time it was Emre to show the skill down the left and place an inch perfect cross for Levent to side foot in.

Volume up and everyone standing now and singing our heads off. 2, or was it 3, Ankara waves going round the Stadium. Fantastic atmosphere today !

Man of the Match was too difficult today. I know Nadeem nominated Emre, but he was only one of many who contributed today. Serhat was a great stopper and sweeper. Mehmet Cakir was a great captain and general. The list goes on. So, my man of the match is the Referee who I thought had an excellent match. OK, so as an ex-Class 1 Ref, I'm biased, but I see a good future for this ref. I'll get his name tomorrow.

Lap of honour and the team singing to each tribune. Great stuff.

Damon and I back to The Chopin to celebrate and put the world to rights.    Photo with our No1 Waiter Ismail ...........

A great day yesssssssssssssssssssss !

Photos up soon.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Ankaragucu vs Korfez match preview !

Ankaragucu play host to Korfez this coming Sunday at the 19 Mayis stadium as they look to keep up their challenge on leaders Altinordu. A draw at Diyarbakir BB last week kept Ankaragucu on level terms with Altinordu who could only draw at home to Alanyaspor. Its difficult to say weather the draw at Diyarbakir was a point gained or 2 points dropped. If Ankaragucu want to be champions then they really should be winning these matches, especially with the players they now have at their disposal.

Fuat Aykuz came in for a little bit of stick for the first time since taking over as Manager due to his team selection. He went for a more defensive looking line up and it took bringing on Umut Nayir to play up top with Levent Kale to rescue a point.

With Sundays match being at home it will be hoped that Fuat will go back to a more attacking line up. Selim Teber should move back into midfield with Erhan Guven back into the centre of defence to partner Serhat Aykuz. They must also go with both Umut Nayir and Levent Kale up front as the pair have formed an excellent partnership this season.

There was more good news for Ankaragucu this week as 4 of the squad were called up to the Turkish Youth teams. Gokhan Akkan, Emre Tasdemir and Hasan Ayaroglu all played today in a 2-2 draw with Slovakia with Hasan grabbing a goal in the match too. Whilst Batuhan Gulcan was called up to the Under 17 squad.

Korfez will provide tough opposition but Ankaragucu should have to much in their locker for them. Ugur Erdogan will be their main threat up front and will need to be marked closely by the Ankaragucu defence. The last time the two sides met the match ended 1-1 at Korfez. Kaan Kanak gave Ankaragucu an early lead but Erman Ergin gave Korfez a share of the points.

The game will be shown live on Baskent TV and kick off will be 1330 Turkish Time, my predictions have been spot on the last couple of weeks and this week I'm going for a 2-0 win for Ankaragucu. In the other games at the top, Altinordu should win comfortably at Bozoyukspor, while Alanyaspor have a tricky home tie against Kizilcahamamspor although they should win that one too.

The midseason blues

Football is a bloody frustrating game. Gencler were the better team last night but still couldn't pull it off. I'm not saying that Karabuk didn't deserve the win, just that Genclerbirligi should have won it. asdfasd

Genclerbirligi 1 - 2 Karabukspor

The Beer Bus is a strange den of murky gloom on an early Monday evening. Joining me to brighten up the place we had Robin and his two Swedish mates and three Aussies who are all married to people from the embassy. This made the introductions interesting.

"So what do you do," asks one.

"I design and export high-range heating contraptions," said one of the Swedes. "And what do you do?"

"Nothing," says Aussie No. 1... and then Aussie No. 2 and Aussie No. 3.

Which was pretty good training for the first half of last night's match. Stancu had a decent shot from outside the box but besides that... nothing.

Second half was more fun in the sort of way that anything is more fun than nothing.

We were controlling the play but never really putting much pressure when Ozgur gave away a free kick. It was struck well and having now seen the replays it was pretty much impossible for Dahlin to save.

With about 30 minutes to go and Gencler started to panic which was good in a way because at least it meant that we liked we were attacking, even if it was too bloody slow. I'm looking at you Petkovic!

Then in about the 70th a brilliant strike was saved by Dahlin but he could only block it... the ball fell to another Karabuk player and then into the net.

Game over really but then Stancu managed to get one back almost straight away. he was running onto someone's pass and the Karabuk keeper, running out and sliding, somehow completely missed the ball. Stancu jumped over the keeper and slotted it in.

A chance, a chance.... The attack was on and we managed to set up a few chances but none of them were really very dangerous. And so the slide from last week continues...    

Ankaragucu 1-1 Diyarbakir BB match report !

So i make it 2 weeks in a row I've called the correct outcome of the Ankaragucu match, today i was hoping i would get it wrong and Ankaragucu would win against on form Diyarbakir BB. Things remain the way they started at the beginning of play today as Altinordu drew 0-0 at home to Alanyaspor therefor lead Ankaragucu on goal difference at the top with Alanya 1 point behind.

Team - Bayram Olgun, Metin Aydin, Serhat Aykuz, Emre Tasdemir, Serhat Gulpinar, Serkan Sirin, Kaan Kanak, Mehmet Cakir, Mehmet Erdem, Levent Kale

Subs - Gokhan Akkan, Umut Nayir, Aydin Toscali, Erhan Guven, Hasan Ayaroglu, Omer Yalcin, Muhammed Gonulacar

Manager Fuat Aykuz made a number of changes with Metin replacing Aytac at right back, Selim Teber moving into the centre of defence with Erhan dropped to the bench with Kaan Kanak and Serkan Sirin replacing Umut Nayir and Volkan Yilmaz in the starting line up.

It was Diyarbakir who took an deserved early lead through Mert Somay on the 10th minute. The goal came as no surprise with Ankaragucu under pressure right from kick off. The score stayed that way till half time. The Ankaragucu fans who managed to get into the match weren't happy with the way the team played, some questioning the amount of changes since last weeks win over Eyupspor.

Into the second half and it looked like Diyarbakir would hold on for the 3 points until substitute Umut Nayir grabbed a late equaliser. Some questions will be asked why Umut didn't start the game after forming an excellent partnership with Levent Kale this season.

As both myself and Jim said at the beginning of the week, a point at Diyarbakir isn't a bad result. They have now gone 10 games unbeaten and it keeps us level with Altinordu. We do still have to go to both Altinordu and Alanyaspor though and if we want to be champions we will need to take 3 points from these games.

Next up is a home match next Sunday with Korfez so another difficult match awaits. Alanyaspor are at home to Kizilicahamamspor while Altinordu travel to Bozoyukspor. It looks like Bozoyuk will see out the season despite their financial woes.

The match preview of the Korfez match will be on the blog midweek.

THREE REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Delayed photos from last Sunday when Ankaragucu defeated Eyupspor 3-1.    However, better late than never !

Three reasons to be cheerful .........

1.   It was Burra Kanka Trevor's THIRD Ankaragucu match.

2.   It was the THIRD time he has seen them win.

3.   THREE great goals from Mehmet and Levent.

So, a great holiday in Ankara to visit his son, Sam, and I'm sure it won't be the last time we have the pleasure of his company in Buyuk Baskent ?!

Two photos of Burra Kanka and Eski Kanka in Maraton enjoying the atmosphere.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Ankaragucu vs Diyarbakir BB match preview !

Sundays match with Diyarbakir should be a cracker. Both teams in excellent form and both looking to  enhance their promotion chances. Altinordu also play host to Alanyaspor in what is the biggest day of the season so far in the Turkish Lig 2.

Diyarbakir BB are on a 9 match unbeaten run which includes a 1-0 win at Alanyaspor. In fact the last team to heath them were Altinordu in a 2-1 victory for the top of the table side. After a poor start to the season for Diyarbakir they are now only 2 points off the Play off places.

There is no doubting that this is the toughest match of Fuat Aykuz Ankaragucu career. He has now guided the team to 6 straight wins and will be looking to make it 7 to keep up the pressure on Altinordu and Alanyaspor.

Last Sundays victory over Eyupspor was comfortable but not that convincing until the last 30 minutes. A fantastic crowd at the 19 Mayis Stadium roared the team onto victory. There were moments in the match that Eyupspor looked like they could take something from the game, until Ankaragucu went up a gear and showed their class.

Mehmet Cakir looks a class act at this level and will want to make sure he guides the team to the PTT Lig. Levent Kale works his socks off and its just a surprise that at his age he hasn't played at a higher level. The new central defensive pairing of Erhan Guven and Serhat Aykuz also look like they will be a fantastic partnership.

Ankaragucu had a lot of attacking options on Sunday, Mehmet Cakir, Mehmet Erden, Levent Kale and Volkan all provided an attacking threat. I think Fuat will bring in an extra midfielder maybe Kaan Kanak if he is fit on Sunday to keep things tight. A win at Diyarbakir will send out a message to the rest of the league that Ankaragucu mean business.

If Altinordu win at Alanyaspor it will give them 6 points in 2 weeks as they will be awarded a 3-0 win against Bozuyuk in a couple of weeks due to their withdrawal from the league. We need Alanyaspor to win this match or even a draw would be a great result for Ankaragucu.

My prediction for sunday is a 1-1 draw, wouldn't be the worst of results, if we can take the 3 points their will be a party in Motherwell on Sunday night.

ANKARAGUCU – CARNIVAL TIME IN ANKARA

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

17,000 happy punters in the 19 Mayis Stadium yesterday (minus 100 Eyupspor hardy souls !) sang and danced for 90 plus minutes and even did the ANKARA Wave (previously known as the Mexican Wave !).

A 6^th straight win for Ankaragucu against a good Eyupspor team saw Ankaragucu maintain the status quo, ie, joint top spot in the league with Altinordu. Unfortunately, both Altinordu and Alanya won yesterday.

ANKARAGUCU 3 Eyupspor 1

Team – Bayram, Aytac, Erhan, Serhat A, Emre, Volkan, Serhat G, Selim, Erdem, Mehmet and Levent.

Substitutes used – Umut, Kaan and Serkan, Gokhan Akkan, Aydin, Gonulacar, Hasan

Yours truly met Naarrich Kankie, Lucy, for her first footie match in Ankara and she is now 'hooked' on Ankaragucu. We had a nostalgic walk through Genclik Park and had pre-match cay in the Sports Club Cafe.

Into the Stadium where we were joined by Apple Kanka Erman and his friend Mehmet, Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Cider Kanka John and special guests from the UK ….... Burra Kanka Trevor, his wife Sue and their son Sam who works in Ankara and supports …... shhhhh …. whisper it ….... Genclerbirligi !! A photo was taken of Burra Kanka and should be up here later.

It only took 5 minutes for Ankaragucu to open the scoring when Mehmet was put through on the right. He sent in a lofted punt cum shot into the top left hand corner of the goal with Emrehan the Eyup keeper clawing air.

What a start and we could have been forgiven for thinking there was going to be a slaughter. Eyup soon settled into their stride and started to play footie.

However, it was still Ankaragucu looking the more dangerous of the two and with Mehmet in sparkling form, I was hopeful that more goals would follow.

Then, on the 25 minute mark in Eyup's first serious attack, they equalised against the run of play. A break down the left wing and a classic cut-back to the unmarked Emrah and whoosh ….. Bayram had no chance.

The game was end-to-end now with the equalising goal firing the Eyup team up, and it was a relief when the half time whistle came with the score even.

Whatever was said during the half time break by Fuat Bey it certainly worked !

Ankaragucu came out of the traps firing on all cylinders and it only took 5 minutes for Levent to put Ankaragucu back into the lead.

From another Ankaragucu attacking move, the ball broke to the unmarked Levent who was lurking inside the box, and he steered it into the corner for number 2.

It was all Ankaragucu now and between the 60^th and 75^th minutes Mehmet should have put the game beyond Eyup. Twice he sent screamers just past the post. Then another just over, and yet again bringing out a great save from Emrehan to thwart Mehmet.

There was only one moment in the 2^nd half 15 minutes from the end when we had the jitters. Serkan was caught dithering on the ball which allowed Eyup to break forward. Fortunately, Bayram came to the rescue.

Almost on the final whistle now and the tension was building. Then Kaan had a great break down the left, and with only Emrehan to beat, his shot hit the post and bounced clear to a defender.

Into time added on and we were all baying for the referee to blow the bloody whistle ….... and then …... a great run down the left wing by 'Man of the Match' Mehmet, he looked up and cut the ball back across the face of the goal for Levent to stroke it in.

What a finish ….. up the volume and …... singing Ankaaaarrrraaaaagoooojooo !!!!

The customary lap of honour with the players dancing their way to each of the tribunes and then it was off to The Red Lion Club to watch the Gencler match and Scotland's great victory over Eyeirrrrlind in the funny shaped ball game yessssssssssssss.

All the best from a still euphoric Eski Kanka Jim