Gencler go down fighting

I know this report is late! I know that Gencler lost! But this isn't a rant... Let me just say it quietly... the best team won.

Besiktas 1 - 0 Genclerbirligi

Tufan, Spine, Alex and me were at the Fake Pub enjoying the toing and froing on the field when a bloke with a deep Aussie accent looked at me.

"Oz Kanka?", he asked.

I was about to say; "Games up. How did you find me officer?"

But instead the stranger merely said his name.

Little bells went off in my head. Ahh... "Didn't we play cricket together?"

Turns out this was Kris, a man who had disappeared off to Prague for four years but stayed on our e-mail list and, having returned to Ankara, decided out of the blue to come and join us.

Onto the match and Besiktas were pretty good. They created many more chances than us and only some luck, the crossbar and some great keeping kept us in it for most of the match. We had a few promising attacks but no real good shots on goal for a long, long time.

In the end Besiktas scored and whilst we tried to get an equaliser nothing was coming off. Don't get me wrong, this was Gencler playing hard and for the most part good football. It was just that Besiktas was a class above us.

Towards the end one of players had a rip snorting effort denied by the crossbar. That would have levelled the scores with just a few minutes left... In the end though, the better team won.