Greetings Kankas
and Kankies.
The relegation
dog-fight ended all square in an almost empty stadium in Malatya last night.
I was unable to
watch the first half, but it seems like it was pretty even with only one shot
on target by both teams.
The first goal
came from a penalty to Malatya after the referee consulted VAR and the penalty
was sent by Basdas to the top right in a perfectly executed penalty kick.
Malatya 2 GENCLERBIRLIGI 2
Team – Adiyaman,
Mert, Muhammed, Altiparmak, Gokhan, Musa, Metehan, Byelyayev, Hrechshykin,
Baris and Serdarcan
Substitutes –
Aksel, Ahmet and Zafer
Only 4 minutes
into the 2nd half and Malatya extended their lead with some fancy footwork
by Osman in the centre who waltzed his way past three attempted tackles and
shot inside the right post.
At this point I
thought that Gencler would capitulate, but I should not have doubted Gencler’s fighting spirit. They
roared back with two well executed goals to turn the match on its head and put
Malatya on the back foot.
10 minutes after
the 2nd Malatya goal and from a corner on the right, the ball was
sent to the centre of the box where it was back headed to Gokhan at the far
post and he powered in a header to give the goalkeeper no chance.
10 minutes later
and the equaliser arrived and it was clearly the goal of the match. Gencler was awarded a free kick on the left
which came into the centre of the box but was not cleared. The ball was returned into the box and
Altiparmak was ideally placed to send an exquisite overhead kick into the top
right for a truly great goal.
Bastas of
Malatya was shown a RED card after bringing down Ahmet on the edge of the box,
but Ahmet scorned the chance to put Gencler ahead by sending his free kick high
over the bar.
A great
fight-back by Gencler after seemingly being down and out, but they are still
stuck in 2nd bottom position in the league.
As I’ve said
many times here, it doesn’t get any easier in this league and the next visitors
to Ankara will be league leaders Eyupspor on the 13th of November.
However, prior
to that crucial match, Gencler will host lower league Bayburt on the 9th
of November in the 4th Round of the Turkish Cup.
As always, watch
this space for the outcome of both matches.
All the best
from Eski Kanka Jim
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