Tuesday, February 12, 2019

ANKARAGUCU REDISCOVER THEIR PREDATORY INSTINCTS !




Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

What a difference a week makes !    The ‘new’ Ankaragucu surprised us all last night with 3 well taken goals against a very good Kasimpasa team, and in the process, moved out of the bottom 3 places in the league.

ANKARAGUCU     3             Kasimpasa    0

Team – Altay, Pazdan, Kulusic, Pinto, Kitsiou, Moke, Djedje, Scarione, Boyd, Sacko and Orgill.

Substitutes used – Sedat, Moulin and Ilhan

Maniac Kanka Harun and I met up in The Anasson Bar and we played ‘spot the Turk’ game when the teams were announced !    Our young goalkeeper, Altay, was named Captain probably because he was the only Turk in the team and he was the link between the players and the referee !     However, that will look good on his CV !!

It was looking ominous for Ankaragucu in the first 30 minutes of the match with Kasimpasa dominating proceedings and spraying the ball around at will.    Ankaragucu was rocking and I sensed that it was only a matter of time until they opened the scoring and swamped Ankaragucu.

Altay made some crucial saves during this period and the defence had their backs against the wall.    Kasimpasa was breaking fast and finding spare men in open space.

Then came what proved to be a master decision by our Coach when he replaced Scorione with Moulin and suddenly the midfield started to fire up.

In the 32nd minute Kitsiou was put through with a telling pass, but with only the goalkeeper to beat, his shot went just over the bar.    One minute later, from a similar move, Pazdan put Orgill through.    He dragged the ball around the goalkeeper’s frantic dive, and angled his shot in for the opening goal against the run of play.     However, we were not complaining !!

The match was more evenly contested now with Ankaragucu taking the game to Kasimpasa, but it took a saving header from Kitsiou to prevent a goal on the half time whistle.

So, Ankaragucu went in at half time one up rather fortuitously !



The 2nd half was barely 30 seconds old when goal No2 came !    Sako received a pass straight from the kick-off, he turned,  looked up, and from about 30 yards out fired in a shot to the top right with the goalkeeper clawing air !     An unbelievable way to re-start a match and perhaps one for the Guinness Book of Records ??!!

5 minutes in and Pinto went off injured (looked like he pulled a hamstring) and was replaced by Sedat.

Kasimpasa was far from finished as they continued to attack and look for a way back into the match.   Their No9 headed just over when he should have done better.   Kitsiou made a saving tackle from a dangerous breakaway, and Kasimpasa’s Ilhan shot just past the post.

15 minutes to go and Boyd almost made it 3, but his fierce shot was just over the bar.    5 minutes later and the action was at the other end when Altay made two crucial saves to deny Kasimpasa.

The icing on the cake arrived 4 minutes before the end and it was a classic goal straight out of the football manual and training ground.   A fast break on the left was cut back almost at the goal-line to the unmarked Ilhan Parlak who side-footed the ball inside the near post with the goalkeeper static.    Who can blame Ilhan for ‘milking the moment’ as he ended his goal drought by saluting the fans behind the goal !!

Into time added on and a great block from Boyd inside the box to prevent a consolation goal for Kasimpasa.

A great fighting display by Ankaragucu to play their way back into the match and score 3 excellent goals.    The ‘new’ team were a joy to watch at times and it was difficult to choose our Man of the Match.    However, for his all round efforts, passing and determination we nominated ............. Kitsiou.     More to come from him I think !       I should also mention that I thought Orgill up front is what we have been missing this season.   A physically strong and speedy player who didn’t give the Kasimpasa defence peace !!!

Next Saturday afternoon Ankaragucu travel to play bottom club Akhisar, and if Ankaragucu can replicate this type of performance, we can be optimistic of returning with all 3 points.

Bring it on !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:19 pm

    First of all, great report, Jim!

    I gotta confess that I was expecting the worse to come when I saw our line-up having only 3 players who didn't come to Ankara in January.

    As you wrote, the first half-hour was not that good but after Scarione went off and especially after our first goal, the team looked extremely confident. It was good to taste this feeling again after 9 games in a row without it.

    The MVP, imo, was Pazdan, he was imperial!

    Vitória Kanka

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  2. Thanks for the report Jim

    Brilliant performance from players, fans and manager. As mentioned by Miguel, after first half hour we really stepped things up and fair play to Mustafa Kaplan for the tactical change bringing Moulin on for Scarione as that changed the game.

    So many contenders for MOTM with Pazdan and Kitsiou outstanding, Boyd, Orgill and Moke all putting in big performances. But Dejdje for me just nicked it, his work rate was incredible and he drove the team forward on every occasion while winning the ball back.

    Special mention to our very own Altay for captaining the team at the age of 21

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  3. Anonymous2:59 pm

    Jim Thanks for the report. I do believe that M.Kaplan was the man of match yesterday night with his first 2 change despite the second one was due to the injury . He strengthened the midfield by Moulin & sedat which totally changed the dominating side. Hope he continues similar in the next 13 matches. Volkan

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  4. Thanks for your comments guys.

    On reflection, I think we should just say ........ MEN of the Match after last night's performance !!!

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