Frustratingly freezing football

It was a frustrating evening freezing Ankara last night. Gencler must have had something like 70 percent of the possesion but only on a few occassions did they really look like converting that into goals.

Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Samsunspor

Wrapped up in our Artic gear Little Oz Kanka and myself headed off to the 19 Mayis full of hope. Genclerbirligi have had a great run of late and their style of play has been fantastic to watch. Until Wednesday night that is.

After being joined by Oguz and not too many other fans, Gencler started off in great fashion and had the ball in the back of the net after just two minutes. Problem was a foul had been called. I didn't see it but as there isn't much complaining happening on the Gencler forums I guess it must have been the right decision.

It was unlucky though. I'm not sure who was doing the heading, but the first header bounced back off the upright and the second was sent in. A brief cheer from us until we realised the ref had blown his whistle.

Then it was... ergh. boring, boring stuff. For some reason Azofeifa wasn't in the starting line up and it showed. Without a decent midfielder to direct traffic all Gencler seemed to do with the massive amount of time we had on the ball was to pass horizontally all night. We had a few chances to score but they were either blown or saved. All very frustrating. One of our key defenders Aykut then managed to get himself injured and had to be replaced just 30 minutes into the game.

Then in the 40th-odd minute disaster struck.

A Samsun player seemed to get away from his defender and bang, a shot from distance that our keeper Ramazan had no chance to stop as it hit the post and went in.

Arggh. Gencler piled on the pressure though and the reward came just a few minutes later when Hursut sent in a cross which found the head of a Samsun player and into the back of the net.

Half-time and I was still pretty sure we would win it but Gencler played without much imagination in the second half. We might have been unlucky on a couple of occassions but this was not the Gencler of the last few weeks. We need Azofeifa back in the midfield... or at least someone who knows how to direct traffic.

Try as they might, Genclerbirligi fail to secure the full three points

Re-read headline for my summary of the match.

Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Samsunspor

I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't get the win, especially after seeing that the two extra points would have put us into fourth place.

A slightly more detailed report will be appearing on the blog on Thursday.

ANKARAGUCU - A BELATED CHRISTMAS PRESENT FROM 'HE' WHO DWELLS ABOVE !!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Ankaragucu, having won their 2nd league match of the season last night, I suppose we should be jumping up and down with glee. However, we should not get carried-away and believe that Ankaragucu has 'turned the corner'. True enough, there were 2 excellent goals from Keles, but it should be borne in mind that had it not been for the heroics of Man of the Match, Bora, it could easily have been a different story !

Manisa 1 Ankaragucu 2

Team -

Bora
Mehmet, Aydin, Umit and Ishak
Bilal, Abdullah and Muhammed
Atilla and Turgut
Keles

Substitutes used - Gokhan E and Gurhan

Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Cider Kanka John, Oz Kanka Chris and I met up in The Red Lion Club more in curiosity than expectation. Could the Ankaragucu 'B' Team and 'Youth Team' deal with the pressure ? It didn't take long for that question to be answered.

The match was just one minute old when we were all stunned with the opening goal. The ball was cleared from defence and fed to Turgut on the left who went on one of his now famous surging runs. He looked up, saw Keles in the middle in support and sent over a great cross which Keles volleyed in with Sehic wrong footed and motionless.

It took about a second or two to sink-in and then we were all high-fiving !

For the remainder of the 1st half it was mainly one way traffic towards Bora who pulled off some great saves to deny Mersin. Also, Ishak cleared off the line when Bora made his only mistake of the match.

Approaching half time and it flashed up on the screen that Mersin had 72% of the possession, but as I said to Oz Kanka (more in hope than anything else !) ...... 'possession doesn't win a game' !

Into the 2nd half and Mersin was still taking the match to Ankaragucu, but the defence was still holding firm. However, the inevitable equaliser came in the 66th minute when a cross came in from the left and the unmarked Erman gave Bora no chance. Lots of knowing looks between the kankas expecting the flood gates to open !!

But ................ that man Keles had other ideas ! 3 minutes later came a candidate for goal of the season. A long ball was sent upfield to Keles, and with Sehic racing out of his goal area to intercept, Keles deftly lobbed the ball over him, beat a covering defender and walked the ball in for a truly memorable goal.

It was round about this time when another memorable event occurred. Battle Damaged Kanka, who had arrived in his 'school uniform' decided to take his tie off to the cheers of the assembled throng ! Perhaps the excitement was too much for him ??!!

I interrupt my report to give the following statment from Oz Kanka ............

10 minutes to go and Ankaragucu was awarded a free kick just outside the box, near the goal line. The ball was kicked at least 20 metres away for anyone from either team. The most stupid free kick I've ever seen !!

Who was the perpetrator ? Can't remember !!! My comment now ..... come back Sapara ..... all is forgiven !

So, Ankaragucu ran the clock down with some desperate defending and we were able to celebrate an unbelievable victory and 3 valuable points.

Ankaragucu can consider themselves rather fortunate to take the 3 points, but at this stage in the season all the crumbs of luck are gratefully received !

Whether Ankaragucu's luck will hold for the visit of Beshiktrash on Sunday is debatable, so we must be realistic and not go to the Stadium expecting more 'presents' !

Meeting in The Chopin on Sunday from 4.30pm for the 7pm KO.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Ankaragucu vs Mersin match preview !

Ankaragucu travel to Mersin tomorrow night knowing they have it all to do if they are to take anything from the game.

Ankaragucu have lost Key players such as Theo Weeks, Hurriyet Gucer, Ozden Ongun, Serdar Ozkan, Ediz, Murat Duruer and Kagan to name a few. The team tomorrow will be made up of the A2 Team and the remaining players who have decided to stay.

Aydin Toscali is set to captain the side now that Hurriyet has left the club to sign for Eskisehirspor. Mersin marked there return to the Super Lig with a 2-1 win over Ankaragucu in Ankara the last time the two sides met. Mert Nobre scored both goals while Serdar Ozkan pulled one back for Ankaragucu late on.

Ankaragucu key players in this match will be the experienced players like Aydin Toscali, Turgut Sahin, Mehmet Cogum and Bora Kork. They will need to perform and help the youngsters who come into the side. The youngsters now have a chance to show what they can do and make a name for themselves in the Turkish Super Lig.

Mersin have performed above all expectations this season and find themselves in the Europa League places. They have some good players and Ankaragucu will need to watch out for the pacey Nduka Ozukwo and his strike partner Mert Nobre. They also have talented midfielder's in Wassim Ben Yahia and Andre Moritz.

Last time out Mersin drew 0-0 at home to Eskisehirspor, while Ankaragucu lost 3-0 at Kayserispor. Another tough game for Ankaragucu but they have nothing to loose. Expectations are on Mersin to win the game, can the Ankaragucu youth come out and cause an upset? Lets hope so

FIXTURES THIS WEEK

Greetings Kankas and Kankies on this snowy New Year's Day in Ankara.

There has been a change to the fixtures for this week.

According to TRT, the Ankaragucu match will be played on Tuesday and not Wednesday as previously announced.

Mersin v Ankaragucu (YOUTH TEAM !!!) - 3 January - KO 8.30pm

Gencler v Samsun - 4 January - KO 6pm

In view of the fact that the Galata....spit....saray match has the same KO time as the Ankaragucu match, Oz Kanka is going to let me know if we can watch the Ankaragucu match in The Red Lion Club. Failing that, we may be stymied for a venue ! Watch this space for further.

Oz Kanka will no doubt be meeting in The Beer Bus for the Gencler match and he will confirm that in due course.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

A letter from Darius Vassell

This e-mail from former Ankaragucu player Darius Vassell just arrived via the "contact us" button on the right-hand side of the blog.

Hi Guys, im reading your blog and also nadeems ankaragucu website to keep track of the clubs progress. Im saddened for what i hear and hope things improve drastically... Ankaragucu supporters have shown so much support and patience with me during my affiliation with the club, i cant understand the whole situation but i do wish the club and its fanbase a full recovery not just for myself but for the thousands of fans that invest so much and receive so little.. Happy new year!!

You can see Vassell's blog here.

Happy New Year to you too Darius, and to the tens of other people who read the blog.

Gencler wow us again

Wow,wow, wow. Genclerbirligi end the first half of the season in fifth spot. FIFTH SPOT! I was so unconfident at the beginning of the season I would have been happy with fifth last spot. Goals from Yasin, Herve Tum (2) and Ermin Zec near the end had everyone at the Red Lion Club jumping up and down. This was great stuff.

I have to go Christmas shopping with Mrs. Oz Kanka now so I'll finish this report later on. Let me just leave you with the magic score from last night.

Genclerbirligi 4 - 0 Istanbul BBS

There is only one person to blame for why I wasn't at the match... Sir Eski Kanka! He had asked last week if we could play our darts match last night. I didn't realise that the Gencler match would be on at the same time. Oh well.

It was just Little Oz Kanka and myself at the Red Lion Club for the kick-off, slowly but surely though the club started to fill up as news of Gencler's exploits spread throughout the capital.

It was all looking okay at the beginning and then the magic started. Yasin took the ball down the left. Starting from about the half way line he cut back in somewhere near the box and got past a couple of defenders before shooting from outside the box. The Istanbul keeper dived to his right but the shot was just too good. 1-0 up and seven minutes gone.

Even though Istanbul had more of the possession for the whole match they only looked like scoring once or twice. Another great effort from the backs and keeper Ramazan.

As Gencler went on the attack again and again the second came in the 24th minute when Azo sent a ball in to Soner in the box. There was no shot on so Soner did his Whirling Dervish impression and then half shot from an angle. The keeper dived but missed and the ball was probably going to miss when Herve Tum's outstretched leg sent it in. 2-0. Looking good.

Almost half-time and Tum gets his second in what can only be described as weird circumstances. Soner passed it to the edge of the box... The keeper comes out but Azofeifa just manages to get a touch on it to keep it going. Tum was being marked but got off a shot from a fairly acute angle, the keeper was missing and an Istanbul player had too much momentum and was unable to intercept the ball as it slowly rolled over the line. Wow.

Second half and well... I don't think Gencler cared any more. We made a few changes to give some of our fringe players a bit of a run around but the performance was nothing like that in the first half.

Hursut gets past his man. Photo by Sabrican Sarak via the Alkaralar website

The fourth goal came via one of those fringe players, Ermin Zec, who scored after being fed wonderfully by Oktay.

All up this was a great performance and we go into the Christmas break with great hope that we can grab a European spot by the end of the season.

Happy Christmas all from a very happy Oz Kanka.