ANKARAGUCU NEVER FAIL TO AMAZE !!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

That man Kitsiou did it again last Friday night in a reprise of his stoppage time goal against Galata.....spit......saray last week.

With 90 plus 4 minutes on the clock, Kitsiou found himself in a similar position inside the box to last week and stroked the ball in for the 2^nd equaliser.

In all honesty, Ankaragucu was fortunate to retun to Ankara with a point, but the bottom line is that they took their 2 chances well and punished Antalya for their profligacy.

Antalyaspor         2           ANKARAGUCU        2

The kankas watched the match in The Alerta Bar – Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Haluk and Atagun – and Ankaragucu started with much the same team as last week with the welcome return of ‘midfield general’ Canteros.     Ilhan led the line in the absence of Orgill who received a red card last week.

It was Ilhan who almost opened the scoring in the 1^st minute when he was put through inside the box.    However, just as he was about to lob the ball over the goalkeeper, he rushed out and parried the ball which was then cleared.

Antalya soon took control of the match and looked dangerous when breaking forward.    They almost scored in the 9^th minute when Kulusic’s weak header back to Korcan was almost pounced upon by an Antalya attacker, but Korcan was quick to dive and smother the ball.

A screamer of a shot went narrowly past the post in the 20^th minute with Korcan beaten before Antalya finally made the breakthrough.   A corner was sent over from the right which found the head of an Antalya attacker.    His glancing header was sent to the left post where 2 Antalya attackers were just a second ahead of Pazdan and Chico bundled it in.

5 minutes later it was almost 2 when an inviting cross came in from the right but the Antalya attacker just failed to connect and the danger was cleared.

Just on the half time whistle and another great chance for Antalya to make it 2 when Ankaragucu gave the ball away cheaply in midfield (not for the first time !!) and off went the Antalya attacker bearing down on goal.   However, just as he was about to shoot and score, the last gasp saving tackle came in from Kitsiou to deny him.

Ankaragucu’s tackling was what you would expect but their passing in the 1^st half was abysmal and they didn’t create enough goal scoring chances with Ilhan well policed by the Antalya defence.

However, smiles were back on our faces 10 minutes into the 2^nd half when Ankaragucu equalised against the run of play.   Canteros made a run from inside the Antalya half and Kitsiou delivered a great pass to him over the heads of defenders which Canteros latched onto.   He drove into the box and sent in a shot high into the top right corner for a great goal.

10 minutes later and Ankaragucu almost went in front when Kitsiou (Man of the Match) went on a run evading a few tackles before being brought down just outside the box.   Canteros stepped up and curled his effort just past the post.

Antalya wasn’t finished.   With 10 minutes to go, they almost scored when a shot hit the upright and went out of play.    However, one minute later they did find the back of the net and went in front.    A cross came in from the right to the back post and Gustavo came flying in between two defenders to bullet a header in with Korcan well beaten.

That was it, and it showed on our faces as the clock ticked down.

But ............ this team is made of stern stuff, and again they refused to throw in the towel.   4 minutes into time added on and there was Kitsiou to stroke the ball in when a cross came in, hit a defender and Kitsiou was in the right place at the right time to do the biz.

An amazing end to the match which was similar in many ways to last week, when both home teams ran the clock down assuming they had bagged all  3 points.   

The Hurriyet newspaper summed it up quite nicely when they said Ankaragucu fight to the end and never give up  !!!

Attention now turns to next Saturday and the last match before the winter break when Ankaragucu will be at home to mid-table Denizlispor.    As I said previously, the kankas will be attending this match in the Eryaman Stadium KO 3pm.

Let’s end the 1^st half of the season on a high.    It won’t be easy against a useful Denizli team, but it is do-able, especially with a full house guaranteed to make a typical Ankaragucu atmosphere  !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim