This time the goals went in

Cold, cold, cold in the capital. So what does the TFF do. They put on a match on a Monday night. No wonder almost no-one showed up.

Genclerbirligi 3 - 1 Bursaspor

I was one of those who decided not to go to the stadium and instead enjoyed the match at an only half-full Alerta Pub.

But what a match it was. We went ahead after just a couple of minutes when Aydin Karabulut crossed it in. Vedat Muriqi got to it and the ball was parried off the line from where Serdar had little to do but punch it in.

Bursa then dominated for ages and equalised after the Aussie Aziz Behich crossed in a nice ball...

Then... Arrrggggjhhhhhh

Vedat buggered up what should have been a standard goal and then he did even worse when he was free one-on-one with the keeper and couldn't dribble past him. Head in hands stuff. Someone tweeted that in the last two weeks our attackers are making some very mediocre keepers look positively brilliant.

Still, second half and finally we got the ball into the back. The first was from Serdar, no doubt that he was man of the match, and then a little later Ugur Ciftci got the final one.

Another entertaining match from Gencler. And all done without Irfan Can Kahveci who last week signed for Basaksehirspor.

The rumours this week surround Ahmet Celik. Irfan leaving is a blow to the fans (if not to the club's accounts) but if Ahmet Celik goes... that defence is going to look mighty leaky.

GENÇLERBİRLİĞİ VARSA PAZARTESİ SENDROMU YOKTUR! pic.twitter.com/xfIY95Glen

— ODTÜLÜ GENÇLER (@ODTULUGENCLERR) December 26, 2016

How the hell didn't we score?

Fenerbahce 3 - 0 Genclerbirligi

BI John, Little Oz and me down at a packed Alerta Pub on a chilly (and chilling) Sunday night.

Really short this one. The scoreline does not reflect what happened in this match. Genclerbirligi completely dominated. We attacked and attacked and attacked but somehow or other the ball just wouldn't go into the net. Some of it was due to the heroics of the Fenerbahce keeper, some just down to bad luck, the odd head or post in the way.

This was a match that Gencler could have won three or four - nil. But as John said at the time, Fener are the sort of team that will come back at you. And they did.

Their first goal came after we had laid siege to their goal for what seemed like ages. Extremely disappointing but we continued to attack... only to be denied time and again.

Then as the match started to die out Fener showed their true class and put us to the sword.

All up... The most exciting match I've watched all season.

Ankaragucu share the points in Hatay!

Ankaragucu finish the first half of the season top of the league thanks to a 1-1 draw at Hatayspor. The good news is that the team haven't even reached their full potential, the bad news is that we keep dropping points every time we go top.

Team - Emre Koyuncu, Serkan Balci, Sezgin Coskun, Alihan Kubalas, Onur Atasayer, Harun Aydin, Ferhat Culcuoglu, Muhammed Gonulacar, Emre Sahin, Omer Bozan, Muharrem Ozan

Subs - Altay Bayindir, Mehmet Tasci, Orhan Gulle, Ali Sinan Gayla, Mustafa Ozturk, Murat Yilmaz, Enes Kubat

Ismet Tasdemir went with the same team that won 3-0 at home against Kayseri Erciyesspor last week.   I managed to catch the game on a poor stream on periscope. The first half was awful, we didn't manage a single effort on goal and went in 1-0 down through a Talha Balci goal for the home side.

The second half was slightly better, Ankaragucu got their equaliser through Omer Bozan and had a couple of other half chances.

The game ended 1-1 but it was a disappointing performance and the team will need to do much better if they are to win this league.

Gumushanespor won 2-0 at home to Etimesgut and go level on points with Ankaragucu. Starting to creep up on the top two are Menemen who are in 3rd just 6 points behind.

The Ankaragucu management team now must press on and add 1-2 quality players to the team when the January transfer window opens and give Ismet Tasdemir the best possible chance of winning this league. We won't get a better chance than this.

Ankaragucu prepare for Hatayspor as Orhan Evci says his goodbyes!

Today was a sad day as Orhan Evci said his goodbyes to his Ankaragucu team mates and the fans after he was released by the club along with Adem Saglam. Many players come and go but Orhan was a local lad who spent 7 years with the club and stood by us during the dark times and hour in need. He knocked back the opportunity of a move to PTT Lig sides to stay and help Ankaragucu fight for promotion and survival in the lower leagues.

The news of Orhans departure was met with disappointment from the Ankaragucu fans who regard the 25 year old as one of their own who gave his all every time he was on the pitch wearing the Sari Lacivert. We would like to wish Orhan all the best with his next move and thank him for all his hard work and loyalty.

Ironically Adem Saglam was also released by the club after failing to establish his place in the first team. Adem was appointed captain of the club when Ismet Tasdemir took over in the summer. The Ankaragucu fans protested this decision saying that Orhan Evci would be a better option. Sadly for both players they now find themselves without a club. The form of Serkan Balci, Sezgin Coskun and Alihan Kubalas had kept both players out the team meaning they haven't saw much playing time.

Ankaragucu are away to Hatayspor this weekend looking to keep their place at the top of the league while 2nd place Gumushanespor are at home against Etimesgut. After the 3-0 win over Kayseri Erciyesspor last weekend Ankaragucu will need to raise their game and perform at a higher level if they are to take 3 points from Hatayspor.

The home side have been inconsistent and find themselves in 7th place. They lost 1-0 at lowly Tuzlaspor last weekend, but showed their class a few weeks ago with an excellent 3-2 win at Menemen.

Ismet Tasdemir will have to decide if he will continue with Muhammed Gonulacar in midfield after the youngster impressed and scored a goal last weekend. Enes Kubat is also in contention for a start up front although Muharrem Ozan continues to grab the goals and looks to be the managers favoured option at the moment.

The game kicks off at 13:00 Turkish time and we will have all the live updates on the Round Ball in Ankara Facebook page.

ANKARAGUCU RETURN TO THEIR RIGHTFUL POSITION AT THE TOP OF THE LEAGUE !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Blue skies, sunshine and a reasonable temperature for December (9 degrees Centigrade), so could the sun shine on Ankaragucu after last week's abomination ?   And the answer was ............ YES !

ANKARAGUCU   3     Kayseri Erciyes    0

Team - Emrah, Onur, Mehmet, Serkan, Muhammed, Sezgin (Captain), Ferhat, Emre, Omer, Harun and Muharrem.      
Three substitutes, Enes, Hasan and Murat replaced Omer, Serkan and Harun in the 2nd half who all left the field to loud and well deserved applause.

An unusual sight - an almost empty Gecikondu !!

It was an eerie atmosphere when we entered the Stadium - Maniac Kanka Harun, his friend Nurer, Scouse Kanka Marcus, Cider Kanka John and our guest of honour from the Genclerbirligi Kanka Group (also a supporter of Hibs and Raith Rovers), Tuufan - with about 200 'silent' supporters in Gecikondu, Sol Kapali empty as a punishment for last week's swearing !, Maraton about three quarters full and Sag Kapali about half full.   The away end boasted 10 lonely souls !    The remainder of last week's tribunes were outside the Stadium protesting !!

In all my years supporting Ankaragucu, it was the first (and probably the only) time that Maraton and Sag Kapali led the singing !

The match started with Ankaragucu on full attacking mode (like last week) and it only took 8 minutes for the first goal to arrive with Erciyes on the back foot and trying find some rhythm.   A cross came in from the left into the box and a nice cut-back into the path of Ferhat who stroked the ball in with the defence all at sea.

No sooner had we finished celebrating than it was No2.   Following a corner on the left the ball was headed clear, but only to Muharrem who had the easiest of chances to slot the ball in with the keeper stranded.

15 minutes gone and Erciyes posed their only threat of the 1st half when Emrah made a great save from a well taken free kick.

One minute later and we had the Bursa serenade by Maraton.

For the remainder of the 1st half it was all Ankaragucu, building from defence, spreading the ball around and in full control of proceedings.     Muharrem, Omer, Harun, Ferhat and Emre all missed golden opportunities to put the match to bed, but wasteful finishing and good goalkeeping kept the score at 2.0 going in at the break.

Fortunately, I don't intend to say ............ 'it was a game of 2 halves' this week, because, thank God, it wasn't !!   Ankaragucu continued to dominate the match in the 2nd half and 10 minutes in Muharrem and Enes were both guilty of missing chances which should have been despatched.   However, the match was made safe one minute later when Muhammed headed in from a corner following some 'ping-pong with the ball' in the box.

3 minutes later it should have been 4 when Enes blasted over from 2 yards out with the goal at his mercy - a miss he will want to forget quickly !

On 66 minutes, Ankaragucu received a wake-up call when Erciyes almost pulled a goal back.   A breakaway left an Erciyes forward bearing in on goal and when he let fly, his shot rebounded back off the post and into the grateful arms of Emrah, and that was their only serious, and last, chance in the 2nd half.

Ankaragucu had 3 more serious efforts on goal from Harun, Murat and Onur which really should have been buried in the back of the net, but it was not to be.

Celebrating at The Yeni Sedir with yummy amber Sutas Ayran !!!

So, Ankaragucu regain top spot in the league due to Eyup's defeat of Gumushane, so we should be happy with that conclusion.   However, let's hope that goal difference is not brought into play at the end of the season, otherwise we may rue all those opportunites to put the chances away.

Off to the Yeni Sedir to celebrate going top of the league and a chance to discuss the all important last match before the winter break next weekend away to Hatay.    Yes, a difficult match, but if Ankaragucu can return to the Capital with all 3 points it will be a great psychological advantage getting to the half-way point of the league on top of the league.     

Let's do it, and ............ let's stay there !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Gencler make easy work of Adanaspor

It wasn't the prettiest of matches... but we will take the win.

Adanaspor 0 - 2 Genclerbirligi

Just a short report a few days late. The Alerta Pub was alive and kicking on a freezing Sunday evening. The same can't be said for the Adana and Gencler in the first half.

Second half though and we came to life just enough to win it. Serdar was fouled in the box and then took his own penalty. Huge cheers as he scored but replays showed he was lucky that it wasn't saved. The ball was shot at waist height straight down the middle and the keeper did brilliantly to dive away from the ball.

A bit later on and in a counter attack two brilliant long passes and then Rantie was free. He rounded the goalkeeper and scored. At home to league leaders Basaksehir this week.
    

ANKARAGUCU - CARNIVAL ATMOSPHERE TURNS SOUR IN THE 2nd HALF !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies,

Yet another 'almost' match for Ankaragucu !    The Stadium was 'almost' full.   Ankaragucu 'almost' had the match won in the 1st half.    Ankaragucu 'almost' beat the world record for most corner kicks in the 1st half.    Get the picture ?   Dare I say it again ?    OK, here goes ..................... it was a game of TWO halves !!!

ANKARAGUCU   1      Kastamonu    3

The kankas met-up in the Sports Cafe.   Maniac Kanka Harun, Scouse Kanka Marcus and Cider Kanka John.    Into the Stadiuk we went and I had to laugh at the banner which the 100 Kastamonu supporters put-up at the away end.    It read ...... Tayfa 37 Istanbul.   Which means that they were the Kastamonu Group from Istanbul.   Nice to know that there are some supporters there who don't support the hated 'Big 3'.

Ankaragucu went straight into the attack from the off and had two reasonable chances with headers from Mustafa and Onur which didn't find the target.

Then, in the 6th minute the 'carnival' started when hundreds of Blue and Yellow balloons were released by Maraton.   7 minutes later another great chance by the Ankaragucu No4 but a great shot had an equally great save by the impressive Kastamonu goalkeeper.

Note - Maniac and Scouse took a video.   Can you guys put it up here ?

1 minute later the goal came as no surprise after constant Ankaragucu pressure.   A corner was swung over on the right and back-headed in the box to Alihan on the far post who met it cleanly and volleyed in to send us all singing.

2 minutes later it was the Bursa song, and with Ankaragucu in full flow we were expecting No2.

However, the goal arrived at the other end to take the wind out of Ankaragucu and return our feet to the ground.   Harun was disposessed in midfield and Kastamonu broke in numbers.   An astute pass was made to an unmarked attacker who arrived in support of the breakaway move and he curved a shot around Emrah for a well taken equaliser.

On the half hour mark and it was still Ankaragucu searching for the goal to send them in at half time ahead.   There were 3 blocked shot attempts one after the other and the ball going out for yet another corner (I lost count of the 1st half corners !!).

One minute later there was a pin-point cross from the left by Omer but Enes made a weak stab at it and it was easily saved.

10 minutes from the half time whistle the Ankaragucu No4 sent in a screamer from just outside the box, but it was just past the post.   3 minutes later Onur's header was just past the post from yet another corner.

So, going in at half time all square didn't affect our optimism.   So much so, that Maniac Kanka suggested we change position to the Scoreboard End to have a better view of all the Ankaragucu goals in the 2nd half.   Ho ho ho ......... and how wrong we were !

There were only 3 attempts on goal made by Ankaragucu in the 2nd half.    Two free kicks outside the box which were well saved and a cracking effort by Omer which hit the post and was cleared, and that coming at a crucial part of the 2nd half would have been an Ankaragucu equaliser if the ball had been an inch to the right !

However, as I said earlier, it was a match of 2 halves and Kastamonu took the match by the scruff of the neck and scored 2 further excellent goals.

They went 2-1 ahead in the 56th minute when former Ankargucu player, Hasan, fired in a great shot.

We were still shouting for an Ankaragucu equaliser but they were having to resort to long range efforts with Kastamonu taking control of the match.

Then, with 10 minutes to go we were silenced when there was a fast breakaway with the ball played out to an unmarked attacker on the left and he made no mistake by burying the ball in the back of the net to put the match beyond Ankaragucu.

There was another chance for Kastamonu to go even further ahead 2 minutes from time when an attacker was clean through, but his shot went narrowly past.

Into time added on, and with the tribunes beginning to empty, we heard the 100 Kastamonu supporters singing as the Ankaragucu tribunes went into 'silent mode' !

This match should have been 'put to bed' in the 1st half but there can be no excuses for Ankaragucu's pathetic and toothless 2nd half performance.   Ismet Bey needs to address this problem, and fast !

It was reported last night that some of the Ankaragucu supporters were heard swearing at the end of the match.   If this has been pick-up by the TFF Representative there, we can expect further stadium bans !!

So, Ankaragucu slip to 2nd top in the league, but now there is a threat from below as Menemen and Karsiyaka make up ground and take closer order in the Top 5.

Therefore, next week's home match against Erciyes takes on even greater significance.


All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

SHOCK: TFF ban a section of Gencler fans for a match

Genclerbirligi fans with season tickets for section D of Maraton have been banned from attending our next home match after the Professional Football Discipline Board (PFDK) said there had been "ugly and bad language chanting" during the weekend's match against Trabzonspor.

If you are an Ankaragucu fan then you will be totally used to the the TFF disciplinary board banning fans from matches but for Gencler this is unprecedented (at least I can't remember bans on fans for Gencler in the past 20 years or so).

Section D is right in the middle of Maraton, the place where Gencler amigo Nedim stands and urges on the crowd. We sat as usual in Section C just across from the D crowd.

Thing is, I can't even remember anything vaguely "ugly" from the D crowd. I might have missed it of course but I can guarantee that there was nothing like the swearing and abuse that opposition fans usually employ. The other thing is that when the D crowd do swear (it happens from time-to-time), the older and wiser heads of the Alkaralar fan group always get up and get them to stop. This did not happen on Sunday and indicates to me that nothing truly untoward was being chanted..    

Annoyed Point No. 1: Gencler fans punished for something that was (probably) quite small.

Annoyed Point No. 2: As we all know Passolig has destroyed crowd numbers but one of the big selling points was that it would reduce hooliganism and would allow the authorities to pinpoint individual trouble makers. This though is yet another sledgehammer ban on anyone who has a season ticket for Section D. It doesn't matter that anyone from Section C or E could have been in that section, nor the fact that the vast majority of single ticket holders were sitting in Section D. They don't get busted, just serious fans with season tickets

Annoyed Point No. 3: Trabzonspor fans had "swearing chants" throughout the whole match. The PFDK found them guilty as well and fined the club 110,000 lira as this was the fifth time they had been found guilty of doing it this season. No fans from Trabzon are banned for any matches.

Is this the worst thing in the world? No. But it is bloody annoying and is yet more proof that the TFF don't give a shit about the fans. In any other country football bloggers would be leading with the news that at the same meeting the PFDK gave Ugur Ciftci a two-match ban after he got a red card on Sunday. Not in Turkey though.


EDIT: Karakizil are reporting that the reason for the ban was the chant of "acemi hakem" (amateur referee).

Susma haykır Passolig'e hayır!!! pic.twitter.com/pLY8wLskuJ

— KaraKızıl G.Birliği (@fckarakizil) December 1, 2016

Gencler beat up Genc Fener

Turkish Cup
Fenerbahce 1 - 2 Genclerbirligi

I'd completely forgotten about the Cup and so it was a nice surprise to see that our first Group stage was on the telly. Hassle was that we had a darts match on at the same time. We lost the darts match, but won the football.

With an eye on this weekend's league match against Besiktas, Fenerbahce decided to rest the vast majority of the first team, instead sending out a bunch of unknowns. Gencler fielded a pretty much top flight team.

I didn't see everything but for the first few minutes Gencler decided to attack. We were all over them and my guess at this stage was that would win it by three or four goals.

Then Serdar was fouled outside the box with just the keeper to beat. The referee immediately showed a red card, something Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo agreed with. Looking at the replay though I'm not so sure. Still, we cheered.

With a one-man advantage Gencler then went to sleep. It was as if they thought this was going to be ultra easy. We were clearly the more skilful team but we weren't really trying.

Until Fener scored...

Their goal came off a corner. Our defender Paletsevic decided to fall over thus giving a Fener attacker a free header. Goal.

Oh dear.

Time to step up and in the second half gencler did it. Our first goal came from Rantie who screamed past a Fener defender and beat the keeper. The second was from Irfan.

In the end it was clear... but boy do we like playing with fire.