ANKARAGUCU’S ‘SECRET WEAPON’ PREVENTS A HUMILIATION !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

With that performance last night, don’t be surprised if Altay made ‘the gloves’ his own and is the first name on Ismail Bey’s team sheet !

It was an outstanding match for the young Ankaragucu shot-stopper who made countless saves to at least give Ankaragucu hope of salvaging a point.   However, there can be no denying that Basak was a class above Ankaragucu and there can be no excuses made for the absence of El-Kabir and Bifouma.     Basak fully deserved all 3 points and it would have been a more emphatic score-line had it not been for Altay’s heroics between the sticks !

ANKARAGUCU     0              Basaksehir         1

Team – Altay, Djedje, Yalcin, Kone, Pinto, Moulin, Faty, Cerci, Ilhan, Mokhtar and Kubilay

Substitutes used – Putsila and Kehinde

The New Eryaman Stadium is still not ready, and the Osmanli Stadium pitch is below standard, so the match was played miles away in Afyon.    Battle Damaged Kanka Damon and I watched the match in The Anasson Bar and were amazed at the large numbers of Ankaragucu fans who had made the journey to Afyon.    Also, they didn’t stop singing and encouraging the players throughout.

Ankaragucu could easily have been one-up direct from the kick-off, when Cerci sent a teasing ball forward.    An Ankaragucu player, surrounded by others managed to get the first touch, but his shot was well over.   We couldn’t see who made the shot in the melee of players !

That was about it from Ankaragucu, apart from a shot from Cerci as half time approached which went just past the post.

It was mainly all Basak with some stout defending from Ankaragucu, but there was little the defence or Altay could do to prevent the winning goal which arrived early in the match in the 7^th minute.

A free kick on the right was swung over to the left for the classic cut-back to Edin in the centre of the box who fired in a real bullet of a shot.    Altay looked to have it covered, but it took a wicked slight deflection off Yalcin and deceived Altay for a fortuitous goal.

We heard the Bursaspor song being sung in the 16^th minute !!

For the remainder of the first half, it was all about Altay –

24^th minute – he got down smartly to save a deflected shot on the goal-line.

27^th minute – he made a diving save to smother a certain goal.

30^th minute – he plucked out a cross intended for a player on the back post.

45^th minute – he cut-out a cross with an attacker lurking behind him.

So, the half time whistle was a welcome respite for the players and ............ us !!!

It was basically more of the same in the 2^nd half from Altay –

48^th minute – he got down low to save at the post.

55^th minute – he saved a shot from the left for a corner.

63^rd minute – he saved a certain goal in the top centre for a corner.

So, a chastening experience for Ankaragucu against a team at the top of their game and 7 points clear at the top of the league !

A huge well-done to the Ankaragucu defence, especially Altay, of course, and also to Pinto and Djedje for their backs against the wall efforts and also their efforts to try and probe forward.     At one point in the 2^nd half the Basak possession flashed up on the screen and it was a whopping 71% !      OK, possession doesn’t win matches, but it generally gives a reflection on which team is in the ascendancy !

So, Ankaragucu continue their slide down the league table to 10^th and with another difficult match next Saturday against in-form Sivas, there will be no respite.    Hopefully our front two will be back in the line-up and all fired-up to score some goals.

A win is badly needed to consolidate mid-table safety and to boost morale !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim