Sunday, January 15, 2023

ANKARAGUCU ENCOUNTER A HUMAN BARRIER !!!

 



 

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

 

There was no doubt that the Adana Demirspor goalkeeper, Ertac Ozber, was Man of the Match last night as he put up the shutters to deny Ankaragucu at least a share of the spoils.

 

Also, the referee, must shoulder the responsibility of denying Ankaragucu a goal in the 1st half when he consulted VAR and disallowed what was a perfectly good goal.    Having watched the replay of the incident a few times, he should have been able to see quite clearly that it was ‘a dive’ by the defender who should have received a yellow card for his obvious theatrics   !!

 

I hope that the TFF are brave enough to go public and admit that a mistake was made, and then issue a demotion of the referee to the lower leagues, or .......... am I just dreaming   ??!!

 

Anyway, I lost count of the times Ertac came to the rescue of Adana Demir and he had the Ankaragucu players (and us) shaking their heads in disbelief at some of his saves.

 

On the other hand, and at the other end of the field of play, the Ankaragucu goalkeeper, Bahadir, was having a nightmare and must shoulder the blame for at least 2 of the Adana goals   !

 

So, Ankaragucu’s push up the table is put on hold yet again and they find themselves only 2 points above the relegation zone.

 

Adana Demirspor           3                    ANKARAGUCU           1

 

Team – Bahadir, Marlon, Mujakic, Radakovic, Kevin, Tolga, Taylan, Lamine Diack, Emre Kilinc, Giorgi Beridze and Ali Sowe

 

Substitutes – Zahid, Tasos, Atakan, Frederico and Pedrinho

 

The Kankas met-up in The Bira Park Bar – Gorgeous Kankie Hazal, Maniac Kanka Harun, Battle Damaged Kanka Damon and yours truly.

 

It took until the 19th minute for the first real action, when as I said in my introduction, the referee disallowed an excellent goal.     Ali Sowe dispossessed a defender near the left corner flag when the defender quite clearly took ‘a dive’.     Ali took the ball along the goal line and cut the ball back for the unmarked Emre in the centre who stroked the ball in for the opening goal.

 

The referee had given the goal and was then surrounded by Adana players protesting and I can only guess that he caved-in to the pressure and agreed to consult the VAR.    Amazingly, he returned to the field and awarded a free kick against Ali.     A diabolical decision which has surely tarnished the reputation of the TFF   !!!

 

Adana almost scored 5 minutes later when Bahadir fumbled a catch from a cross but the attacker who latched on to the ball screwed his shot wide.

 

On the half hour mark and Ali scored a great goal after fine work by Giorgi who crossed into the box for Ali.      However, the flag was up and the replay showed that Giorgi was clearly offside when he received a pass before he crossed the ball.

 

A few minutes later and Marlon’s back pass was poor and almost resulted in an Adana goal.

 

At the other end, Ertac made a great save from an equally great goal bound shot from Taylan.

 

Then, a critical tackle by Mujakic was made to deny Adana a goal scoring chance.

 

Into time added on in the 1st half and Ankaragucu scored their 3rd goal when Emre sent his shot into the corner, but ........... again the flag was up and the replay showed that he was only offside by a whisker   !!!

 

At this point in the match, I was thinking that this was not going to be one of Ankaragucu’s days, despite the fact that they were playing some neat attacking football, and so it proved   !

 

The 2nd half was only 3 minutes old when Adana made the break through.    A fast break on the left and an inch perfect cross to the unmarked Sari on the right who had the easiest of chances of stroking the ball in.

 

Ankaragucu continued to attack and Emre was denied 7 minutes later when he shot past the post when ideally placed to score.

 

However, the equaliser arrived 5 minutes later from a corner on the right when Radakovic rose highest in the box to head in.      A goal reminiscent of Sinan’s headed goals from corners last season   !!!

 

Ankaragucu should have gone ahead 3 minutes later after some excellent play by Taylan who’s pass to Emre gave him the chance to score but his shot was well saved by Ertac.

 

However, it was Adana who went ahead 2 minutes later from a free kick just outside the box.    Akbaba sent his shot in straight at Bahadir who somehow contrived to miss it.    A shocking piece of goalkeeping by Bahadir and he will not want to watch the action replay   !!!

 

Ankaragucu kept searching for the equaliser and it should have arrived 2 minutes later when they hit the bar from inside the 6 yard box and then the header from the rebound was cleared.

 

Another great chance to score the equaliser was thwarted by Ertac 7 minutes later when Zahid’s goalbound shot to the top right was acrobatically saved for a corner.

 

The match was more-or-less put to bed 3 minutes later when Inler avoided a half-hearted tackle and sent in a fierce shot from outside the box to inside the left post which Bahadir had covered but failed to save.

 

Ankaragucu still pressed forward and Radokovic had 2 chances to pull a goal back.    The first was another great save by Ertac and the second effort was just past the post.

 

Despite Ankaragucu continuing where they left off last week with crisp passing, excellent running off the ball and an attacking mentality, they came up short and were unlucky to find Ertac in such commanding form.

 

Damon also mentioned, and I quote ............. ‘as intense as this match has been, there has been cameradie between the teams’.     Agreed, and unusual to see in these days   !!

 

On we go to the next league match which will be a visit to Konya on Monday evening 23rd January,

 

However, before then, there is Turkish Cup business to attend to in the Last 16 of the Cup.    Ankaragucu will be at home to Besiktas on Wednesday 18th January KO 5.45pm.     Damon and I will attempt to obtain tickets for this match and be there in The Eryaman Stadium.

 

As always, watch this space for the outcome.

 

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

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