Greetings Kankas and Kankies.
This is how
Ankaragucu will need to play for the remainder of the season if they are to
safeguard their position in the super League.
To be honest, I
had resigned myself to a share of the spoils after Erzurum had equalised in the
2nd half, but I under-estimated the fighting spirit of Ankaragucu
who continued to press forward till the referee blew for full time on 90 plus
5.
ANKARAGUCU 2 Erzurumspor 1
Team – Altay,
Kitsiou, Kulusic, Pazdan, Pinto, Sedat, Moke, Sacko, Canteros, Boyd and Orgill
Substitutes used
– Moulin, Sadaev and Ilhan
Battle Damaged
Kanka Damon and I met-up at The Anasson Bar and were full of optimism as
Ankaragucu came out of the traps in full-on attack mode. Ankaragucu was obviously looking for a quick
goal and could easily have found it in the first 20 minutes. However, Orgill and Canteros both had goal
scoring efforts which were directed over the bar. Orgill in particular was guilty of wastefulness
in the 20th minute when from a pinpoint cross on the right he headed
tamely at the goalkeeper with the goal at his mercy !
Having weathered
the storm, Erzurum began to settle and Altay saved a goalbound shot soon after,
but just as I was beginning to fear that Erzurum was gaining the upper hand,
Ankaragucu opened dthe scoring with a goal to savour and a serious contender
for Goal of the Season !
It was on the 25th
minute mark and another sweeping move by Ankaragucu down the right. The cross came in to Boyd lurking at the
near post and he back-heeled the ball at an angle to the far post which totally
deceived the goalkeeper. Sheer class
from Boyd and the stadium erupted in celebration.
Erzurum almost equalised
3 minutes later after some sloppy defending gifted the ball to Erzurum but the
attacker’s shot was well saved by Altay.
15 minutes of
the first half remained and Erzurum continued to press forward searching for
the equaliser, but some stout defending and Altay heroics allowed Ankaragucu to
go in at half time one up.
The 2nd
half was only 2 minutes old when the equaliser arrived and Kitsiou must
shoulder responsibility for it. A
stupid and unnecessary body-check on an attacker outside the box on the left
and the referee quite rightly gave a free kick. Also, Kitsiou, who had already received a
yellow in the 1st half, was lucky the referee didn’t produce a red !
Opseth sent in a
fierce shot which took a slight deflection off the wall to deceive Altay and in
it went !
This was all the
inspiration that Erzurum needed and they began to look the likelier team to
score. However, their momentum was
halted when Opseth was shown a 2nd yellow for hacking Pinto down.
2 minutes later
Sacko should have scored when he received a cut-back pass on the right but his
vicious shot could only find the side netting.
10 minutes to go
and I made the observation to Damon that Orgill had been posted absent in the 2nd
half. No sooner had I uttered these
words than he scored. However, Sadaev
who had been on for barely 2 minutes had used his arm to control the ball
before feeding Orgill and the goal was quite rightly disallowed.
3 minutes to go
and Erzurum was desperately seeking the winner when they forced two corners in
quick succession and Ankaragucu was guilty of losing possession cheaply to
allow Erzurum to mount a final onslaught on Altay’s goal.
90 plus 2 and
Ankaragucu broke down the left. The
corss was sent to the back post where Ilhan was lurking. He automatically made the cut-back to the
centre of the box to Orgill who swivelled and angled in a shot which took a
deflection to wrong foot the goalkeeper and a goal it was nevertheless. They all count ......... don’t they ??!!
90 plus 5 and
Erzurum wasn’t quite finished yet.
Desperate Ankaragucu defending resulted in an Erzurum free kick just
outside the box. It was goalbound, but
Altay to the rescue again to smother the ball
Final whistle and sighs of relief all round !
The bottom line
is ........... 3 valuable points to move Ankaragucu out of the bottom 3, but
Ankaragucu can consider themselves fortunate in the 2nd half when
the Erzurum wingers continually stretched the Ankaragucu defence to breaking
point. Excellent defending by Pinto,
Paxdan, Kulusic and Altay prevented a break-through for Erzurum.
Better teams
than Erzurum may have punished Ankaragucu yesterday and no doubt Mustafa Bey
will have clocked this and try to solved this problem before they travel to
Antalya on Friday.
To finish on a
positive note, it was pleasing to see Ankaragucu pressing forwad until the
final whistle. Some other teams might
have been content to run the clock down and settle for a point !
So to the next
match which is on Friday in Antalya KO 8.30pm.
Antalya sit comfortably in mid-table, but only 5 points ahead of
Ankaragucu, so no reason to go there with a feeling of trepidation. Another attacking display with more accuracy
in the final third and we can be optimistic of returning to Ankara with all 3
points.
Bring it on !
All the best
from Eski Kanka Jim
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