At least it wasn't a draw

Am I allowed to complain after a 2-0 victory. Of course I am.

Genclerbirligi 2 - 0 Karabukspor

Listen very carefully Turks. It may not be as hot as it should be in late September but it sure as hell isn't cold! Just put a jumper on. You aren't going to die.

Admittedly, I wouldn't reccommend that everyone follow Alex who decided to show up wearing shorts. Others more sensibly dressed at the Alerta pub were Spine, me and a new English fellow named John who bought a Passolig card "because I'm writing a book about Turkish football".

At the stadium we met up with Kevin and then Dan the Man and his son. Quite a nice little group of kankas.

Football kicked off and well...

... and then in 11th minute the Karabukspor Number 11 lashed out and punched one of our players right in the nuts. Ouch. Our man went down and the referee had no hesitation in pulling out a red card.

Kevin and John wonder what the hell is happening. Oz Kanka
puts money on another draw. 

Big cheers from the crowd and time for us to sit back and win in easily? Nope. Gencler then proceeded to make very hard work of it all. We just couldn't go forward. Our back guys were staying back and we were sending in crosses way too early. Considering we had the vast majority of the possession and we were a man up we could hardly get a shot off.

Still, it was surely only a matter of time before Karabuk's brilliant defence cracked. It was just seconds after the second half kick off and Aydin Karabulut played it down the right, he had just come on as a substitute. We had players running in fast and I think he got a cross or a shot off. The Karabuk keeper dived to his right but only managed to palm it off to Landel who fired it home.

Time for a walkover.

Er... no.

Genclerbirligi now decided to play some of the most inept rubbish I have seen from them in a long time. You know those times when a crowd starts to get very antsy when the team are through the motions... that was the second half.

Luckily we were put out of our misery towards the end when Irfan Can Kahveci cam on and slotted home the winner...

So, we got the win and we got to fifth place, somewhere we
haven't been for a long time.

But for me the man of the match was a fellow called Dany Nounkeu, the No. 13 defender for Karabukspor. He was brilliant in spoiling so many chances, he completely nullified Stancu and time and again won the one-on-one battles. He was excellent.

So, Dany, time to get your agent to earn his keep and get him to flesh out your Wikipedia page.

ANKARAGUCU LOSE THEIR WAY !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Ankaragucu’s impressive start to the season came to a grinding halt this week with TWO defeats, and so it seems that The Coach, Ismet Bey, must go back to the drawing board to rectify the situation.

Inegolspor   1                  ANKARAGUCU    0

Last Wednesday, Ankaragucu crashed out of the Turkish Cup, losing 2-0 to 3^rd Division outfit Darica, and the kankas thoughts after that defeat was a shrug of the shoulders and that Ankaragucu could then concentrate their efforts on promotion at the 3^rd time of asking back into the PTT League.

However, there seems to have been little response from the players in Bursa today with the strikers firing blanks again.

Bellshill Kanka Nadeem and I couldn’t find a link to watch the match, but Maniac Kanka Harun told me on fb that, from what he saw, it was a poor match with Inegol scoring the

So, the situation now at the top of the league is that there are 6 teams on 9 points each !

Hopefully Ankaragucu will put this behind them and get back on track next weekend against Gumushane, otherwise we may have a crisis on our hands.   Yet another season in this ‘effin’ division is just unthinkable !!!

Watch this space as the story unfolds.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Ankaragucu vs Inegolspor match preview!

Ankaragucu travel to Inegol this weekend as they take on Inegolspor tomorrow looking to make it 4 wins in a row. The home side have had a tough start to the season losing 1 and drawing 2 of their opening 3 games. That said, Inegolspor are always a tough opponent for Ankaragucu who will know they need to be at their best if they are to return to the capital with 3 points.

The game will be shown live on Canal 16 with a 4pm kick off Turkish time, so a chance to see the team in action again is a nice surprise for me who will be cheering on Rangers against the sheep from Aberdeen at the same time.

It's expected that Ismet Tasdemir will keep faith with the same side that has won all three of their opening games this season. That means Mehmet Tasci will keep his place at centre half while Enes Kubat gets the nod ahead of last weeks goalscoring hero Murat Yilmaz.

Emre Okur will be the man to watch for Inegolspor after scoring 2 goals from his first 3 goals. Ankaragucu should have to much quality in their side not to win this match, Erhan Senturk, Emre Sahin, Enes Kubat, Omer Bozan all have the quality in attack to cause problems for the home side and will be looking to attack straight from kick off.

Let's hope we have another weekend of celebrating an Ankaragucu win, and good luck to Queen of thr South and Rangers our brothers from Scotland!!

Darica Genclerbirligi 2-0 Ankaragucu

Ankaragucu suffered another early exit from the Turkish Cup as they lost 2-0 at Lig 3 side Darica Genclerbirligi. A number of fringe players were given a chance to shine but instead they suffered an embarrassing defeat.

The good news is that Ankaragucu can now concentrate on the League campaign and their bid to gain promotion to the PTT Lig.

Genclerbirligi still undefeated... but not brilliant

It was a better Genclerbirligi this week than last week's very disappointing
draw with Alanya, but it was still a draw and well... there is something missing

Konyaspor 1 - 1 Genclerbirligi

A sunny Sunday afternoon and nothing better than sitting outside and watching some footy. The Alerta Pub was packed and the mood was one of fun. Some of the kankas to take advantage were Spine, Dan the Man, Flying Dutchman Kanka and Alex. We also met a new kanka in Jimmy, a bloke who has just arrived in Ankara and has already said we may well get a season ticket.

Footy-wise it was ... well, not brilliant. The referee was rubbish and the Gencler players just weren't getting into it. Konya were clearly tired after their mid-week Europa League match but we were finding it difficult to get through.

Finally though Serdar Gurler got on the end of a long ball. He controlled it brilliantly and took a shot. GOAL!!!

The crowd at the pub erupted and then we went back to averageness.  

Until towards the end when Konyaspor started to really go on the attack... and our defence was lacking. Then it looked like we could have the winner. A ball was put in front of Stancu with just the keeper in front of him. His first touch was atrocious though and it was groans all round at the pub.

Just a few minutes left and arrrggggghhhhhh. Konya got through after some sloppy defence. Another draw.

Another bloody draw

Yep... another bloody draw

Konyaspor 1 - 1 Genclerbirligi

mmmm

More later

ANKARAGUCU – NEVER SAY .......... NEVER !!!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

This being the 2^nd of our 5 match Stadium Ban, we were unable to watch the match.   However, Maniac Kanka Harun was able to watch bits and pieces on a poor feed which he was able to find and perhaps he can add something to this report in the comments section.

ANKARAGUCU   1        Karsiyaka     0

Just as we were resigned to a stalemate, up popped Murat Yilmaz to score the winner in time added on.    Admittedly, I’ve been critical of Murat in the two matches I’ve seen him play, but in my defence, I did say that it was early days and I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.   He is a tall striker and he obviously must use his height to thwart opposition defenders and use it to his advantage.   Maybe that’s what he did today ??!!

So, well done Ankaragucu, and with Hatay also winning, and the others around us losing, this leaves Hatay and Ankaragucu on top of the league with 3 wins out of 3 each.

Next up is the Turkish Cup match away to Darica on Wednesday followed by an away league match next weekend against Inegol.

Here’s hoping the team can keep up the momentum and ................. consistency !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Ankaragucu vs Karsiyaka match preview!

Two of the leagues favourites go head to head on Saturday afternoon as Ankaragucu take on Karsiyaka. It will be another empty stadium as Ankaragucu serve their 2nd of their 5 match stadium ban.

Both sides have got off to the perfect start with 2 wins from 2 and both sides will be going all out for the 3 points to set an early precedent in the title race.

Ismet Tasdemir is the first Ankaragucu manager In the last two years who has been given the tools and backing to challenge for the title. The team have shown their quality at both ends of the pitch in their first two games and although it's early days, their are a lot of things to be positive about.

Omer Bozan has been the star man in the first two games which is no surprise as he was our star performer last season until he quit the club due to unpaid wages. He provides the creative spark along with Emre and Erhan for Enes and Muharrem up front.

It looks like Ismet will go with the same team that has impressed in the opening two games with Enes keeping his place up front and Mehmet Tasci playing at centre half.

Karsiyaka have won their opening games 1-0 at Polatli and 2-0 at home to Tuzlaspor. They have started their campaign without conceding a single goal and will be confident of getting a result. This will be the toughest test for Ankaragucu so far. A win will certainly send out a message to the rest of the league that Ankaragucu are serious contenders for the title.

Genclerbirligi disappoint

It is simply beyond my comprehension how Genclerbirligi can play so well one week against a top side like Osmanlispor and then with such feebleness in their next match against a crap side like Alanyaspor.

Bernard, Spine, Oz Kanka and Little Oz

Genclerbirligi 0 - 0 Alanyaspor

Spine and me and Little Oz and Bernard were the crew down at the Alerta Pub to enjoy a few beers on what was a lovely warm Autumn afternoon. Off to the stadium where we bumped into Dan the Man and his son Efe.

Once again a terrible crowd. I guess the bayram holiday didn't help but Passolig has truly killed the game in Ankara.        

Expected a great match and.....

Second half and things picked up a bit... Irfan and Stancu  ended up being substituted after pretty average performances. There was very little urgency, very little going forward. And all this despite the fact that we controlled vast stretches of the game.

It was all very disappointing. Fingers crossed Uzulmez will put his boot up the players before next week's away match to Konya... which is one we may try to get to.

The blog inspires

One week after being featured in "The round ball in Ankara" Aussie Aziz Behich pulls off one hell of a clearance to deny Fenerbahce. Coincidence? I think not.  

The defenders equivalent of scoring a goal! What a clearance by Aziz Behich to keep Bursa ahead against Fenerbahce pic.twitter.com/UpEOX7UGE3

— Turkish-Football.com (@Turkish_Futbol) September 11, 2016

ANKARAGUCU AND THE ZIRAAT TURKISH CUP

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

The Turkish Cup got underway a few weeks ago with some of the amateur teams and 3^rd Division Teams and now it is into the 2^nd Round with the 2^nd League teams included.

Surprise surprise .......... Ankaragucu have been drawn ‘away’, and who would dare accuse the TFF of planning this ???!!!

Exact details are unknown yet, but the 2^nd Round will be played on 20/21/22 September and here is Ankaragucu’s draw ............

Darica Genclerbirligi v ANKARAGUCU

Darica is near Kocaeli, which is a town just to the east of Istanbul.   This team is in the 3^rd League, but on checking their recent form it looks as if they have had a successful start to the season.   Therefore, no chance of complacency me thinks !!!

Hopefully this will be taken seriously by Head Coach, Ismet Bey, and into the hat for the 3^rd Round draw.   Following that, we will be into the Group Stages and a chance for Ankaragucu to show what they can do and .............. at the same time ............. bring in some much needed dosh ........... and .......... give the supporters a chance of a Cup Run.    I’m not sure about this, but hopefully the Stadium Ban doesn’t include Cup matches ??!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Kırklarelispor 1 - 2 Ankaragücü

Despite Eski Kanka's impish sense of humour in making it seem like I'm about to post a masterwork on a game I haven't seen, these game notes will be brief.

But first, it would be amiss of me not to mention the big news of the week: that Fenerbahçe signed a sponsorship agreement with Hello Kitty.

Artist's Impression...

With their 2-1 win over Kırklareli, Ankaragücü have made their best start to a league in 9 seasons.

Ankaragücü's first goal came in the 32nd minute after a breakthrough on the wing and a lucky cross in for Ömer Bozan in the box to finish. (Link - scroll to 21 minutes)

Some midfield mistakes and a chip over the keeper got Kırklareli an equaliser after half time. (Link - scroll to 13:40).

But three minutes later, Ankaragücü went ahead again from a free kick, Ömer Bozan's second (Link: scroll to 16:20).

SporAnki was enthusiastic about the striker's performance:

Ömer Bozan, who was left out of the first team at the end of last season... could have been sold, but he stayed in the team at the request of technical director İsmet Taşdemir.  

After performing well at [summer] camp and his successful performance in the first week, Ömer Bozan also gave life to the team at yesterday's Kırklarelispor match. 

But fan Eren Çelik urged a little more caution from the comments of the Güçlümedya Facebook page:

Every season it's like this, we're leaders for the first 8-9 weeks, and then the team falls apart. I hope this season is different.

Hope so! - Cider Kanka

Gencler fail to satisfy

Eeeerrrrrgggghhhhh

Genclerbirligi 0 - 0 Alanyaspor

More tomorrow/

ANKARAGUCU DO A HIBS AND GO TWO LEAGUE WINS ON THE TROT !!!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Perhaps Ismet Bey has shown the recent Hibs videos to the players as incentive and the way forward ?!

Kirklareli   1       ANKARAGUCU    2

One week at a time is all we can do for now.   A ‘home’ match next week against ‘brother team’ Karsiyaka beckons, but ............. where ?      Kars, Diyarbakir, Hatay ?????    We await the wonderful and knowledgable TFF decison on that !!!!

In the meantime, I will post a brief summary of the match when Cider Kanka John has had a chance to interpret the main points from the Ankaragucu sites.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Main Photo ............. A blast from the past !!!!

An Aussie in town for the day

Aziz shouts at some kiddies.*

Back in the old days there used to be millions of Aussies playing in the Super Lig.

Just at Genclerbirligi over the past few years we have had Mile Sterjovski, Nick Carle, Bruce Djite, Mile Jedinak, Jsoip Skoko and James Troisi - all Australian international players. Galatasaray had Harry Kewell for a while but nowadays there is just one Aussie plying his trade in Turkey - Aziz Behich at Bursaspor.

According to his Wikipedia entry, Behich was born in Melbourne to Turkish Cypriot immigrants.  "For this reason he was eligible to represent Turkey and Australia, eventually choosing for the latter," the article states.

He has recently resigned for Bursa on a new three-year contract.

Which is all an intro to Sunday's event where the Australian Embassy sponsored a footy clinic for members of a football club in the working class district of Kecioren.

A couple of scratch games were played with Aziz playing the "joker" role. More importantly for the kids was the chance to take a selfie with an Aussie superstar!

Aziz and Little Oz Kanka have a chat

Hats off to Aziz who had a smile for each and every selfie and best of luck for the rest of the season at Bursaspor (except for when you are playing against Genclerbirligi that is).

* Aziz didn't actually do any shouting

Ankaragucu 2-0 Aydinspor match report!

Professional, solid, composed, clinical, enjoyable!! All words that for the last couple of years have been sadly missing from Ankaragucu performances. Well today they returned as Ankaragucu got off to a winning start defeating Aydinspor 2-0 in the league opener.

Team - Emrah Tuncel, Orhan Evci, Alihan Kubalas, Mehmet Tasci, Onur Atasayer, Harun Aydin, Ferhat Culcoglu, Emre Sahin, Omer Bozan, Erhan Senturk, Enes Kubat

Subs - Emre Koyuncu, Murat Yilmaz, Ahmet Yavzar, Mustafa Ozturk, Adem Saglam, Muhammed Gonulacar, Serkan Balci

So a couple of interesting decisions by Ismet Tasdemir in his first competitive match as Ankaragucu manager. He decided to go with Mehmet Tasci at centre half ahead of captain Adem Saglam. With Cenk Kaplan also out injured it gave Mehmet the opportunity to show what he can do. Mehmet has always played at left back for Ankaragucu since making his debut as a 17 year old against Bursaspor. I have always said that he would make a better centre half due to his defensive ability and height. He done himself no harm today with a solid performance alongside Alihan at the back.

Orhan Evci was named captain which was a popular decision amongst the Ankaragucu fans. Emre Sahin got the nod in midfield ahead of Mustafa Ozturk and Ahmet Yavzur who are both knocking on the door. His work rate and experience will no doubt be the deciding factor in his inclusion.

New signings Muharrem, Orhan Gullie, Onur Bayramoglu and Sezgin all missed out as they look to get match fit due to signing late in the transfer window. They will all have a fight on their hand to get into this team.

I managed to watch the full game on periscope thanks to an Aydinspor fan, it has to be mentioned their fans were in excellent voice the full game and didn't stop backing their team.

Ankaragucu took the lead midway through the first half, Harun Aydin put the ball past the keeper inside the box in what is a rare goal for the young midfielder. Young Harun looks to have stepped up is game another level under Ismet Tasdemir and he certainly has the potential to play in the Super Lig if he maintains consistency.

Ankaragucu went in 1-0 up at half time and looked very comfortable having had 70% of the possession.

The second goal came in the 65th minute through Enes Kubat, his pace took him clear of the Aydin defence before calmly slotting the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 2-0. Enes led the line well today with his work rate and speed causing all sorts of problems.

A good  2-0 win for Ankaragucu which sends the fans home happy tonight and they will already be looking forward to next weeks game at Kirklarelispor.

Incidentally Kirklarelispor won 2-0 at Tuzlaspor while Karsiyaka won 1-0 at Polatli. A good start but their are some though games to come!