ANKARAGUCU STILL ON A LEARNING CURVE !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

A blast from the past for Bellshill Kanka Nadeem to enjoy !!!

Ankaragucu is learning week by week that playing in the Super League is going to be a long hard slog of a journey !

Last night Ankaragucu played some neat football but they found the door locked by a strong and well organised Kasimpasa defence.   Ankaragucu had the lion’s share of possession, especially in the 2^nd half, but as we all know, possession doesn’t necessarily win matches, as Ankaragucu discovered.

We also have to accept that this is a ‘new’ Ankaragucu team and they will need a few more weeks to gel together and build their confidence.   Also, they must find their killer touch in the final third which was missing last night.

Kasimpasa     2                       ANKARAGUCU     1

Team – Hopf, Erdem, Kubalas, Kone, Pinto, Moulin, Faty, Bifouma, Parlak, Mokhtar and El Kabir

The kankas, Maniac Kanka Harun, Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Posh Kanka Ahmet and I, met up at The Anasonn Bar to watch the match in the company of lots of Ankaragucu fans.

The match was only 5 minutes old when the danger men of Kasimpasa, Trezeguet and Diagne, made their presence felt.   Trezeguet almost scored with a bullet of a header from a right wing cross, but the ball went just past.

3 minutes later and Ankaragucu were handed a lifeline when the referee awarded a dubious penalty.   I’m not sure if I would have given it !!   Anyway, up stepped El Kabir who sent a tame shot to the left which Ramazan read and easily saved.   A golden opportunity spurned which could have moved the match in a different direction !

3 minutes later and Ankaragucu paid the price of their profligacy.    Kasimpasa broke on the right and a cross was sent in where Diayne was ideally positioned to leap between two defenders and power a header in to open the scoring.   An excellent piece of opportunism.

Kasimpasa had the ball in the net 4 minutes later but the referee had spotted a push on an Ankaragucu defender and the goal was disallowed.   A lucky escape ?!

On the half hour mark and a Kasimpasa screamer of a shot was just over and Kasimpasa was looking the more likely team at this stage.

Kasimpasa’s Veysel was lucky to only receive a yellow card after mouthing off to the referee, and then Bifouma was given a yellow for ‘diving’ in the box with all the players and fans screaming for another penalty !

Into the 2^nd half and Ankaragucu started as they had in the 1^st half with all out attack.   New striker Kubilay replaced Parlak.

A chance for Ankaragucu arose in the 51^st minute with a one-on-one (I think it was Kubilay) and Ramazan who stuck out a foot from the shot and the ball was cleared.

There was no doubting Ankaragucu’s endeavours at this stage, but the Kasimpasa defence was soaking up all the attacks and frustrating Ankaragucu’s ability to find that killer touch in the final third.

Half way through the 2^nd half and Pinto went off injured and was replaced by Djedje.

The match became more of an end-to-end contest with 15 minutes remaining.   Both teams had shots on goal with El Kabir having two attempts well saved by Ramazan.  

With 10 minutes to go, one last throw of the dice was made with Cerci relacing Mokhtar, but there was to be no equaliser.

5 minutes to go to the end and Ankaragucu was still pressing forward, but the 2^nd Kasimpasa goal came at the other end with a mix-up in the Ankaragucu defence allowing Trezeguet to make the game safe or Kasimpasa.

With the match well into time added-on, and with Kasimpasa seemingly thinking it was all over, Bifouma found space on the left.   The defence backed-off and he fired in a great shot to the near post to put some respectability on the scoreline.

So, Ankaragucu find themselves in mid-table with 4 points form 4 matches.   Kasimpasa go 3 points clear at the top of the league with their win yesterday.

There will be international footie next weekend, so some respite for Ismail Bey to work with the new signings and prepare for the next match at home to Akhisar.

Akhisar is currently 2^nd bottom of the league on 2 points but we can not read too much into that statistic.   Last season’s Turkish Cup Winners will be no pushovers and we should also bear in mind that they are also in the Europa Cup Group Stage.

A win against Akhisar will cement the mid-table position, so let’s look on the positives and await Nadeem’s pre-match assessment.

In other news, Genclerbirligi defeated Osman...spit....lispor 1-0 at The Stadium from Hell on Friday night to stay top of the Spor Toto League.   Gencler and Bolu are both on 12 points at the top, but Gencler has a superior goal difference.

As I said above, there is international footie next weekend so Gencler will be at home against bottom of the league Elazig in 2 weeks time.   Bolu will be home to much improved and undefeated Altay and we will be looking for Altay to take points off Bolu !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim