It was all a bit... meh

Konyaspor 0 - 0 Genclerbirligi

At the beginning of the week I thought about a day trip to Konya. Jump on the fast train, say hello to the whirling dervishes and then head off to the stadium (sans alcohol) and then just on the fast train back home.

Two problems with that. The last train from Konya to Ankara leaves at 9:15pm, making that bit impossible. Then also their wasn't a single ticket available for the Ankara - Konya first leg. Seems like lots of people had already booked to make sure they were home for Sunday's election.

Not to worry... as having watched parts of the match at the Red Lion made me very pleased not to have made the trek.

Yep, a nil-nil draw. Some nice football but most of the time it was just "meh".


    

ANKARAGUCU RIDE THEIR LUCK BUT SECURE THE 3 POINTS !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

ANKARAGUCU    1            Kartalspor   0

It was a Friday afternoon kick-off with most people at work, but Battle Damaged Kanka Damon and I met up at the Stadium since all the schools were off !   Not a bad turnout considering the circumstances with Gecikondu and Sol Kapali almost full and Maraton half full.    There were TWO punters in the away end and I was impressed when the Kartal players went over to salute them!

Team – Ferhat, Goksu, Sedat, Gurkhan, Mehmet T, Hasan, Sertan, Salih, Omer, Timur and Mehmet Y

Substitutes used – Emrah, Muhammed and Enes

Not much to say about the 1st half which had Damon and I yawning often !

Ankaragucu had their chances but spurned them all.   In the 4th minute Mehmet Y was put through on goal, but couldn’t control the ball and it went out before he could regain control.

Mehmet Y was brought down just outside the box on the right but the free kick was cleared.

Then Omer, who was looking dangerous, had 3 chances but was unlucky with all 3.   On the 20th minute mark he took a cut-back from the right but his shot in the box was well saved.   2 minutes later and from a short corner on the left, his swerving shot to the top right of the goal was only inches past. Then just before the half time whistle from another cut-back from Mehmet Y, his shot hit the bar and went over and out.

So, a scrappy 1st half with only a few chances for Ankaragucu.   Kartal was winning most of the balls in midfield but not threatening with Ferhat not having to make a save during 45 minutes play.   Also, Ankaragucu’s passing was woeful and that part of their game needs addressing on the Training Pitch !

Into the 2nd half and Omer almost made the break through 10 minutes in when he received the ball from a left wing cross and attempted to chip it over the goalkeeper but it was just inches over the bar.

Then on the 58th minute came the inspired substitutions when Mehmet Y and Omer went off to be replaced by Emrah and Muhammed.     Emrah’s impact was immediate when he scurried down the left wing and with his first touch of the ball, chipped the ball over the goalkeeper to the unmarked Hasan at the back post who headed in for a great goal !

Kartal was not throwing the towel in and were still intent on attacking.   However, the Ankaragucu defence was standing firm.

Observations with 15 minutes to go – Kartal’s No53 has had Timur in his pocket for most of the match.    Also, Goksu has had another useful match.

10 minutes to go and from a great break down the left by Emrah, he crossed perfectly to Hasan who’s diving header went just past the post.

One minute later we saw some trickery from Hasan in the box when he rode 3 tackles before his shot was saved.

5 minutes to go and another cross from the left by Emrah to the inrushing Timur but he couldn’t get a touch to prod the ball in.

2 minutes later Hasan (my Man of the Match) was substituted to well deserved applause and Enes replaced him.

A tense last few minutes with Kartal looking to sneak an equaliser, but new Coach Kemal Bey has the defence playing with resolve and it’s not leaking like last season !!

The final whistle and sighs of relief all round.   Then off to The Chopin Bar to celebrate with Maniac Kanka Harun.

Next up is the rearranged away match in Buca which is scheduled for Tuesday 3 November (to be confirmed).   Another 3 points will do nicely !

A plea ……….. would Mehmet Y and Timur open their account next week pleeeeez !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Ankaragucu vs Kartalspor match preview!

Ankaragucu are back in league action on Friday afternoon as they host Kartalspor in another must win match. Ankaragucu moved back into the playoff spots after a good 2-0 win at Sivas Belediyespor, while Kartalspor moved into the relegation zone after a 3-0 thumping at home to Keciorengucu.

As we have often seen, league positions don't decide outcomes of football matches with anyone capable of beating each other in this division. There were a lot of plus points from last weekends game in Sivas, especially the performances of Salih Sefercik, Mehmet Yildiz and Sertan Vardar. The experienced trio were the difference between the 2 sides and they will be looking to carry on in similar fashion against Kartalspor.

The key player for Kartalspor will be former Trabzonspor striker Murat Tosun who has scored 4 goals in the 5 games he has played this season. The Ankaragucu defence will need to be at their best as they look to make it 2 clean sheets in a row.

Ankaragucu coach Kemal Kilic will be relatively happy with his first two games having taken 4 points from a possible 6. Although Ankaragucu were impressive in short spells last weekend, there is no doubting they can perform a lot better, and they will need to if they are to become champions of this league.

The good news for Ankaragucu is that there aren't any outstanding teams in this league, unlike Altinordu a couple of seasons ago. If they team can put a winning run of games together, it will give them the confidence to push on to that all important title.

The Kanka group will be at the stadium again on Friday, for meeting details speak to Jim and he will give you the instructions.

Peace will win

A statement issued by the Genclerbirligi Alkaralar fan group on Sunday, October 25.

We are not well (we have been hurting) since the attack at 10:04 am on 10 October 2015 against the people who came to the Ankara "Peace will win" rally. Like all of those who haven't lost their humanity, we will not be well (we will continue to hurt). There are many reasons not to be well (to be hurt). One of them is that it is considered a "petty offence" to express a want for peace and to condemn terror.

The banners that we unfolded, banners which had no content that the police actually objected to, were taken from our hands. They were ripped apart and taken from the stands. For the rest of match the police had their eyes on us in a harassing way. At the end of the match, as if there had been a major crime committed, tens of riot police (made a formation which forced the spectators) to leave one at a time. Then at the end, our three friends were taken into custody.  

The officials must have realised that what they had done had no basis. Therefore they didn't know what to accuse our friends with. (With this sort of thinking) those voices coming form the stands who wanted peace should have been harassed and silenced. Therefore, they wanted to prosecute (our friends) under Law 6222 "Law To Prevent Violence and Disorder in Sport". However, it was soon understood that there were no grounds in the law under which such an action could be described as such. So they remembered another law which can be used open ended (an all encompassing law) - the Petty Offences Law. As a last resort our friends each received a fine of 208 tl.

Many officials highlighted the point that the main problem was to open a banner in the stands without permission, as opposed to the actual content of the banners. However, as Alkaralar we believe that the banners brought (into the stadium) without permission deserve the same tolerance, if not more, than the "Watch Matches on Lig TV" banners which are also brought into the stands without permission.

Our aim is not to cause a sensation. It is to do our final duty to those beautiful people who lost their lives in Ankara, to pay our respects, and to express our wish for peace. In order to prevent this incident to be individualised and to think of the personal security of our three young friends we have chosen to make a written statement. We have not lost hope... and we will not lose it. We will keep shouting out in spite of the harassment we received yesterday and in spite of the Passolig system. Peace will win.  

The original statement in Turkish can be found here

Ankaragucu 2-0 Sivas Belediyespor match report!

It was a great day for Ankara football yesterday with wins for Ankaragucu, Ankara Demirspor, Genclerbirligi and Keciorengucu. Sadly there wasn't a happy outcome for Osmanlispor as our friends from Gencler beat them 1-0 to make it a good day all around.

Ankaragucu came back from Sivas with all 3 points and they were made to work for their win but got there in the end thanks to goals from Timur Kosovali and Sertan Vardar.

Team - Ferhat Odabasi, Goksu Alhas, Murat Sozgelmez, Sedat Bayrak, Mehmet Tasci, Salih Sefercik, Omer Bozan, Sertan Vardar, Hasan Ayaroglu, Timur Kosovali, Mehmet Yildiz

Subs - Turgut Kirveli, Orhan Evci, Volkan Geyik, Muhammed Gonalacar, Harun Aydin, Enes Kubat, Emrah Bozkurt,

Firstly after the match the Ankaragucu board thanked the Sivas board for their hospitality towards Ankaragucu fans as they moved them into the home stand which was covered after it started raining. Its nice to see there are still a good number of clubs in Turkey that can show this kind of hospitality towards their opponents.

Ankaragucu started the match without key players Sedat Bayrak and Mustafa Ozturk through injury and Gurkan Alver through suspension. The new coach put out a fairly attacking team with 2 strikers and an attacking midfield.

The first half was a bore fest with nothing much happening from both sides, Sivas arguably passed the ball better and Ankaragucu were finding it difficult to keep the ball. Sertan Vardar went closest with a free kick which was well saved by Serkan Demirol in the Sivas goal.

Into the second half and Ankaragucu started to look the better team and the experience of Salih Sefercik, Sertan Vardar and Mehmet Yildiz started to show with the trio the best players on the park. Special mention has to go to my man of the match Mehmet Yildiz though for an excellent shift he put in and barring a bit of luck could have scored a hat trick.

The first goal came on the 52nd minute after a good cross from the left came into the Sivas box, Mehmet Yildiz controlled the ball before his shot on goal was cleared off the line, the ball found its way to the lurking Timur Kosovali who had the easy task of putting the ball into the empty net to make it 1-0 Ankaragucu.

A couple of minutes later it should have been 2-0, as another ball from the left from Sertan found its way to the outstretched Timur whose weak shot was saved by Serkan. There were a couple of half chances for Salih and Hasan who both shot over the bar after some nice build up play.

That man Mehmet Yildiz almost got on the score sheet after he showed nice footwork in the box to create space for his shot, he fired it into the bottom corner but the ball came back off the post much to the dismay of Mehmet who was thinking what did he need to do to get that goal.

He went even closer a few minutes later after rounding Serkan in the Sivas goal before firing his shot on goal but the Sivas defender got back to clear it off the line again. You could see that Mehmet Yildiz was growing frustrated that he couldn't get that goal, but the Ankaragucu fans were singing his name as he continued to work so hard for the teams cause.

With time almost up Ankaragucu scored that all important 2nd goal to finish off Sivas who were looking dangerous in attack as the pushed for the equaliser. From a counter attack the ball found its way to Mehmet Yildiz on the half way line, he turned his man before playing an excellent through ball to Emrah Bozkurt, he in turn played the ball across to  Sertan Vardar who controlled the ball before blasting the ball past Serkan to make it 2-0 and send the Ankaragucu fans home happy with the 3 points.

A decent performance from Ankaragucu especially in the second half. They got the all important clean sheet and never looked under any pressure at the back. If this team is to be title contenders they do need to learn how to look after the ball, pass better and take their chances.

Next week the team are at home to struggling Kartalspor before travelling to Bucaspor for the rearranged game. These are 2 of the easier games and the team should be taking 6 points from those games. I will be back midweek with the preview of next weekends game at home to Kartalspor.

Rightio 1-0

I normally try to start a match report with a very short description of the state of play. But the police decided to kettle us in. Why? More at the end.

Genclerbirligi 1 - 0 Osmanlispor

This was an unusual match. Not least because I hadn't even had a touch of alcohol before kick off.

Osmanlispor are a new club. They used to be known as Ankaraspor. ie. they are the team of the Ankara Municipality... ie Melih Gokcek.... the long-term mayor of Ankara whom none of us on this blog would ever doff our lid to.  

So the Osmanlispor team got about a thousand fans into the match. Mmmm. Okay, well done. But going by the stuff they were singing these were actually Ankaragucu fans. I wonder how much they were paid to support Osmanlispor.

Time for the national anthemn and the Alkaralar fan group unfurled their respectful banner recognising the deaths of 100 people in the bombing of the peace march two weeks ago. One banner said "Peace will win". Another banner merely noted the time of the morning blast "10:04am".

... According to all evidence at the moment, the suicide bomb was the resonsibility of ISIS. Some 100 people died in the attack...

Just a couple of days later Turkey was about to play Iceland in an important Euro qualifier match.

One minute's silence was called for before the match kicked off. The minute's silence lasted about 20 seconds. Just listen to the video. The people of Konya deserve to hang their heads in shame. Thing is, whilst I agree with the last statement, amazingly so does Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Turkish fascists.

No one was questioned or arrested for this gross disrespect of those who had died. The thing is.... this is right. You can be a complete and utter bastard and that is completely fine.

So... Our Alkaralar fans wanted to mark the deaths of the 100 people in a way slightly more respectful than the Konya wankers.

When the national anthem started our friends unfurled their posters. The protest was silent. It was all over by the time the national anthem was finished. The banners were; "Peace will win" and "10:04".

The police then decided to come up and take away such disgraceful banners. Of course, the Gencler fans handed over the banners. A few minutes later a few of the police came back. Apparently they started to ask about how our friends got such innocuous banners into the stadium. According to the cops, we have to submit every and all banners to them before a match.

The police didn't say that today's banners were illegal. They just said that they weren't vetted.

EDIT: Saturday night: The police later took into custody and then fined the Alkaralar fans who held onto the "Peace will win" sign to the tune of  250-plus lira.

There was some football at this stage.

It was 90 minutes in and we were ahead. Then our shout went out.

"The Ottomans were destroyed. The Republic was established."

And we shouted it again, and again and again. "The Ottomans were destroyed. The Republic was established."

And so the match was over and it was announced that the Osmanlispor supporters would have to wait as we were going to be let out first.

Dennis, Alex and me were on our skids as we need to get to the Red Lion Club for the rugby.

We got to the exit and then couldn't get out.

The riot police had formed "a cone" outside the exit. Hundreds of people were trying to get our and the Turkish police, full riot gear, shields the lot, were funnelling all these hundreds of people into a single file. It was as if they wanted a fight. And that may well have been the point. As we were sequestered like cattle everyone was singing songs about the not so legal goings on of Melih Gokcek.

This was the first time I have ever experienced the riot cops being employed in this way. Is this a new way of dealing with us? Is this the new way of intimidation?    

Ankaragucu vs Sivas Belediyespor match preview!

Ankaragucu take on Sivas Belediyespor tomorrow afternoon as they look to get their promotion campaign back on track. Having failed to win in their last 3 league games the Ankaragucu team has come under criticism from the media and fans which led to the dismissal of coach Aykan Atik.

New coach Kemal Kilic didn't have the best of starts last weekend as the team were held 1-1 at home against Gumushanespor. Its not just the results that have been disappointing, the performances have been unacceptable especially in attack. Strikers Mehmet Yildiz, Ermah Bozkurt, Timur Kosovali and Teoman Erkan have failed to score a goal between them all season.

Sivas are also on a poor run of form themselves after 2 successive defeats against Tokatspor and Keciorengucu. The newly promoted side will be looking to cause an upset in front of their own fans and Ankaragucu will need to up their performance if they are to return to the capital with 3 points.

Ankaragucu will be without key players Mustafa Ozturk and Adem Saglam through injury, while Gurkan Alver is suspended. Ferhat Odabasi and Timur Kosovali both suffered minor injuries in a car accident and will face late fitness tests tomorrow.

Hopefully this Ankaragucu team will turn up tomorrow and not serve us the utter garbage we have been fed of late. We need to start winning now!!

ANKARAGUCU IN DESPERATE NEED OF A STRIKE FORCE !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

A dire struggle yesterday to equalise and then hold on for a point !   It was grim watching the efforts of Ankaragucu trying to score, especially for us kankas used to success in the good olde days of Ankaragucu in the Super League !    New Coach, Kemal Kilic, has inherited a problem which will be difficult to solve.

ANKARAGUCU    1      Gumushanespor     1

Team – Ferhat, Goksu, Sedat, Gurkan, Mehmet T, Salih, Harun, Sertan, Hasan A, Omer and Mehmet Y

The Kankas met up in the Stadium – Maniac Kanka Harun, Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Posh Kanka Ahmet, Apple Kanka Erman and Dancing Kanka Emre.   We were also joined by Murat Kaya and his friend together with ex-Class 1 Super League Referee, Can Papila. (He can be seen sitting in the front with the white shirt and the shades).

A reasonable crowd was there with Gecikondu, Maraton and Sol Kapali almost full.   There were about 100 in the away end – no doubt Black Sea boys resident in Ankara.

Ankaragucu came out of the stalls like a thoroughbred and attacked full-on for the first 10 minutes before Gumushane could catch their breath.

In the 3^rd minute, Omer was gifted with a chance from a rebound in the box and shot straight at the goalkeeper.   One minute later, there was a great goalbound shot from Harun which was well saved and from the rebound another shot from Mehmet Y which was also saved.

9 minutes in and a cross came in from the left straight to Omer, but his poor header was saved.

Having weathered the storm, Gumushane settled down and Ferhat made a great save on the 10^th minute mark.   However, he could little to stop the opening goal one minute later when Gumushane put together a great passing move from right to left and then the angled shot came in to the top right with Ferhat having no chance.

Heads didn’t go down and Ankaragucu should have equalised on the 21^st minute mark when a fast move was made down the left and a cross sent into Omer’s path, but he side footed it past the post with the goalkeeper beaten.

After half an hour Ankaragucu received a great chance to put the sword in when a Gumushane defender was sent off for using his arm dangerously to stop a fast attacker down the right wing.

Ankaragucu scented blood and poured forward in attack.   On the 35^th minute the equaliser should have arrived when Mehmet Y was presented with a pass near the penalty spot.    However, he was too slow to react and his shot was blocked.

2 minutes later Omer shot from well outside the box but well over the bar.   In hindsight, he would have been better advised to have just passed to his left where Sertan was lurking unmarked and screaming for the ball !

2 minutes later Mehmet Y was too slow again to seize an opportunity and his shot was blocked.

4 minutes to go to half time and the equaliser arrived after constant Ankaragucu pressure.   Mehmet T was fed the ball just inside the box on the left and he fired in a screamer to the bottom left.    Note .......... perhaps we should keep Mehmet Y  and Omer on the bench next week and give Mehmet T and A. N. Other a chance up front !!!

Approaching the half time whistle and Hasan had an open goal on the left but managed to poke the ball over the bar.   Then Harun tried his luck from ouside the box but the ball sailed out well over the bar.

It was bloody frustrating having so much possession against the 10 men and only one goal to show for it.    However, we were still upbeat that there would be goals to come in the 2^nd half !!!

Into the 2^nd half then and Mehmet Y had another chance to finally score a goal for Ankaragucu but he allowed his header to hit the top of his head and it was well out.

Then came the turning point of the match when Ankaragucu was also reduced to 10 men.   Gurkan hauled down an attacker who had broken free just outside the box and the numerical advantage was lost ............. and so was Ankaragucu’s efforts to put that round thingie between the sticks !!!    The free kick was into the wall, but 2 minutes later Ferhat made a great save and the rebound was hacked over.

2 minutes later Mehmet Y received the ball in the box with his back against the goal and he proceeds to fall to ground.   This I have observed is one of his hallmark tactics, but I’m at a loss to understand why he always seems to fall down and always allow his marker to get the better of him !!!

Timur and Emrah were introduced to the fray and still Mehmet Y was allowed to stay on the pitch.   The Coach obviously was watching a different match to me !!!

The match was petering out in the closing 10 minutes and it seemed that both teams had settled for a draw.    However, Gumushane almost snatched a winner towards the final whistle but only a great save by Ferhat prevented a catastrophe.    Then right at the death there was panic stations in the Ankaragucu defence when the ball rolled agonisingly past with Ferhat beaten.

This will NOT do Ankaragucu.    Fitness levels need to be worked on for some of the players.   However, a word of praise for Goksu and Sertan who linked well together for the most part and played in some great balls for the ‘strikers’ to attack.    Goksu in particular caused all sorts of problems down the right and we can expect more from him in the future.

Back to The Red Lion Club to see the Scotland v Australia funny shaped ball match and ooooooo........ so unlucky for Scotland to have a Frog Referee who gave a wrong call at the end of the match to allow the Aussies to win by one point.   However, it was a more exciting match than the one I’ve just reported on !!!!

Note for Oz Kanka ............. Please smile and look impressed when standing next to a Scottish Flag !!!

Ankaragucu will be away in Sivas next weekend.    Details here later.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Gencler smashed in Istanbul

Errr. It started well and then came the second half.

Galatasaray 4 - 1 Genclerbirligi

A big crowd at the Red Lion Club last night for the South Africa - Wales Rugby World Cup match meant that the football was relegated to the small screen with the sound off. It also means I can't really do that much of a review as my eyes were all over the place.

Gencler stated nicely, playing attacking football and it was maybe just 5 minutes in when we should have gone ahead. Stancu got a shot off, hit the post and rebounded to Djama who should have scored but sent the reaction shot miles wide.

Then not that long later we went ahead when Djama put El Kabir through. After getting around the keeper El kabir shot from a difficult angle and GOOAAAALLLL!

Then there was the second half.

Kankas On Tour

Kankas On Tour - White Hart Lane, London. Just after the Spurs - Liverpool FC match.

Ankaragucu vs Gumushanespor match preview!

Ankaragucu return to league action on Sunday after the international break and tragic events in Ankara last weekend. The Round Ball in Ankara refrain usually from discussing politics, and i can only speak for myself at this stage. After the bombing in Ankara last weekend and loss of 97 lives, i am struggling to even talk about football in Turkey at the moment. I have lost all faith in humanity with all the evil thats happening worldwide and usually football is a release from everything else. Sadly we are seeing politics involved in football as we saw in Konya during Turkeys game with Iceland.

Anyway, onto football matters and Ankaragucu vs Gumushanespor. This will be the first match for new coach Kemal Kilic who was appointed last week after Aykan Atik was shown the door after a string of poor results. I cant say im excited about the appointment as he has managed more clubs than oor Jim has had birthdays. We need to give him a chance though and get behind him and see what he can bring to the team.

Kilic took charge for his first game in charge in a bounce match behind closed doors midweek with a 1-0 win over Etimesgut as Ankaragucu ran out 1-0 winners with Omer Bozan scoring the only goal of the game.

Gumushanespor are the visitors this weekend and will take confidence after both Tepecikspor and Aydinspor left Ankara with points in the last two home games. Former Ankaragucu youth player Cagalyan Alpastan will be hoping he is named in the squad against his former team.

On the injury front, Ankaragucu will be without Mustafa Ozturk, Adem Saglam and Ferhat Odobasi through injury. Their will be a place in the squad for 17 year old Mahsum Kara who is another highly rated member of the youth team.

As always, we will be hoping for a good turnout from the Ankaragucu tribunes and looking for the 3 points to get our season back on track.

Law 11 Offside: There is no offside offence if a player receives the ball directly from a throw in

Boy oh boy did we need the three points. Last night it was second last (us) versus third last.

Genclerbirligi 2 - 0 Kayserispor

Alex, Oz and Little Oz Kanka

No time for pre-match drinks last night so it was straight to the stadium for Alex, me and Little Oz Kanka. A few changes in the line up for Gencler with Hopf back in goal being the main one. Kick-off and blaaargggghhh.

Second half was a lot more exciting with Gencler attacking much more. Then came our first goal and enormous confusion all round.

I can only explain what happened having now seen a video of the goal. We had a throw in and the linesman raised his arm for an offside. No one realised at first. The ball was headed out, one of our players kicked it back in and El Kabir hit it into the net. Referee blew his whistle for the goal and the linesman still had his hand up for offside. The referee correctly overruled the linesman because you cannot be offside from a throw in. O

nly problem was, because he had his hand up in the air the linesman didn't see that El Kabir was offside when he actually scored. Incompetence all round.

We cheered when it became clear that the goal would stand and then the Kayserispor players went mental. Shouting away at the referee, the linesman, even the goal-line assistant referee. This went on for a few minutes with our players nice and composed waiting for the restart of play.

Little Oz, Oz and Sir Eski are triumphant.

The Kayseri players were clearly pissed off, angry and their minds weren't focused... And that's why we managed to score our second just a minute or so later. This was a more tradition goal with Stancu doing well down the left to get a short cross to El Kabir to get his second.

Kayseri now had to go full on to try and get something out of the match but our defence was good, as was Hopf in goal.

All up it was a good performance from Gencler. Not brilliant, but better than some of the dross we have seen.

And then it was off to the Red Lion Club for some rugby... but I'll leave that for other blogs to write about.

Oooh. I like that

It is way too late at night for me to give a proper run down on tonight's match. You will have to wait until Sunday afternoon at the least. In fact it could well be days before you get a soccer report. At the moment everything is rugby.

The results of Saturday's matches

Genclerbirligi 2 - 0 Kayserispor

England 13 - 33 Australia

...

All in the world is good.

Ankaragucu 0-2 Aydinspor match report!

The feel good factor at Ankaragucu sadly only lasted a couple of weeks after the clubs latest disastrous result earlier today. After last weeks 1-1 draw with Tepecikspor at home the fans were hoping that the team would respond with the 3 points today. Sadly it wasn't to be as Aydinspor won 2-0 and Ankaragucu coach Aykan Atik was sacked after the game.

Ankaragucu are now on the look out for a new coach with Yilmaz Vural linked with the job already. Choosing the new manager could be the most important decision of Mehmet Yiginer's career at the club. If the club don't win promotion this season, it really could be the end for the club.

Team - Turgut, Orhan, Murat, Gurkan, Mehmet, Salih, Muhammed, Omer, Sertan, Timur, Yildiz

Subs - Altay, Volkan, Sedat, Hasan Ayaroglu, Hasan Kaya, Enes, Emrah

Aykan Atik will no doubt be upset that he finds himself out of a job, but football is a results driven business and losing in the cup, followed by the last two home results taking 1 point from a possible 6 is not good enough.

Ankaragucu need a coach who will see the team play more attacking football and making use of Timur Kosovali and Mehmet Yildiz who are both prolific scorers at this level.

Goals from Mehmet Ozturk and Mehmet Ucar were enough to give Aydinspor the 3 points today and they will be delighted to have caused an upset.

Next weekend Ankaragucu travel to struggling Bucaspor knowing they need to take the 3 points. The club will be hoping they have their new man in charge who will get this team into shape.

Ankaragucu vs Aydinspor match preview!

Ankaragucu host Aydinspor tomorrow AFTERNOON at 3pm thanks to another ridiculous decision from the TFF to alienate itself from the fans. Their is no justification for an important league match to be played when everyone is working or at School. At a time where many Turkish clubs are struggling financially, this is another example of not looking after its clubs with Ankaragucu set to lose out on 10,000 or more supporters match day ticket money.

Anyway back to on the field matters, and Ankaragucu will be looking to improve on last weeks performance against Tepecikspor where they could only muster up a disappointing 1-1 draw. The result wasn't the biggest concern as there is no easy game in football these days, but the performance was disappointing especially with Manisaspor dropping points it was a missed opportunity to draw level with them at the top of the table.

Aykan Atik will be happy with his defence as they have looked pretty solid apart from the Mehmet Tasci mistake at the weekend, and he will also be happy with his Goalkeeper Ferhat. The team also has some talented wide players such as Sertan Vardar, Mustafa Ozturk and Omer Bozan. The areas where they will need to address though are the middle of the park in midfield and up front.

Both Mehmet Yildiz and Emrah Bozkurt are slow and need to rely on good service coming from the midfield and wide players which has been lacking. It could now be time to show faith in Timur Kosovali who has the pace to cause problems for defences and also has an excellent goalscoring record at this level.

The away side Aydinspor are newly promoted and after a disappointing start to the season have followed up with two excellent 3-1 wins over Anadolu Uskudar in the cup and Keciorengucu in the league at the weekend. They also have an excellent support with crowds up to 15,000 at their home games.

Disappointing that their won't be many fans able to attend the game, but Ankaragucu are used to playing games in empty stadiums due to stadium bans so hopefully we can take advantage and use our experience to win the 3 points.