Ankaragucu vs Sivasspor Match Preview

Ankaragucu travel to Sivas on Sunday in yet another vital match in the clubs fight against relegation.

Ankaragucu will be hoping to take something from Sundays match after the humiliating 6-2 defeat at home to Kasimpasa in the Cup on Wednesday night. Ankaragucu have been showing signs of improvement of late with a 2-1 win at Mersin and 0-0 draw at home to Besiktas.

Sivasspor are a very difficult side to beat at home though, They are currently 9 games unbeaten at home with Eskisehirspor the last team to beat them in Sivas. They are also unbeaten in there last 8 games in all competitions. Last week they drew 1-1 away at Eskisehirspor despite playing a big part of the game with ten men. They also won 3-1 against Mersin in the Turkish Cup in midweek.

The two sides met earlier this season in Ankara in which Sivasspor won 2-1. They took the lead through Jan Navratil before Kagan equalised with an excellent strike. Sivas dominated the game and Morten Rasmussen scored the winner.

Jan Rajnoch will be in the Sivas squad and will play against his former employers. Rajnoch left Ankaragucu after the last game between the two sides. Sivas have some very talented players in the powerful Michael Eneramo, Kamil Grosicki who is a tricky winger and Bolivian Striker Ricardo Pedriel.

Ankaragucu will be hoping Turgut Dogan Sahin will be available. The player has been at the centre of a bizarre transfer row between Ankaragucu, Gaziantepspor and Bursaspor. He returned to Ankaragucu today and Hakan Kutlu will be hoping he will be in his team on Sunday.

Another huge game for Ankaragucu who will have to give the performance of there lives to take anything from this game. The elections are been held tomorrow and Erdal Sanli is the leading candidate. I've been informed by our friend Bugra Mete that he is a friend of Ahment Gokcek.

ANKARAGUCU - LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

There is very little to be said about last night's match !

Hakan Kutlu decided to rest his 'regulars' and play a team which was totally unrecognisable from last season. His philosophy being that 3 points in Sivas on Sunday is preferable to a run in the Turkish Cup. We may agree or disagree with this, but the fact was that Ankaragucu is going nowhere, especially if they keep leaking players. Cider Kankas John's comment about Keles joining Bursa being a point in case !

No shame on the Ankaragucu 'boys' last night. They played their hearts out, but, as Nadeem mentioned in a previous post, Kasimpasa is a strong team and that was proved last night. They totally dominated the 2nd half and gave Ankaragucu a torrid time. A case of men against boys !

Ankaragucu 2 Kasimpasa 6

Only Cider Kanka John and I turned-up last night and it was into an eerily emptyish Stadium we entered. However, Gecikondu did their best to create an atmosphere.

I don't intend to catalogue all the goals. Suffice to say that Ankaragucu was like a ship without a Captain on the Bridge, or ....... for that matter, a rudder !!

I also don't want to be a defeatist, but, if any more 'leaves fall off the tree' Ankaragucu can definitely say bye-bye to the Super League. Even with the 'leaves' remaining, it is going to be a long hard struggle until May/June.

Every match grows in significance now, but Sunday's match in Sivas takes on giant proportions if Ankaragucu is going to stay in touch with the other relegation candidates above them.

Watching in The Chopin on Sunday KO 1pm.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Gencler knocked out of Turkish Cup

This photo was taken an hour before the match was supposed to kick-off. Photo nicked from aktifhaber.

Oh dear. Wasn't what I was expecting.

Boluspor 3-2 Genclerbirligi (1-1 after full time)

No radio broadcast of the match so all I could do was follow mackolik.com which merely had the scores, the goals who go yellow cards and a small comments sections below which was overtaken by trolls confusing the hell out of me.

So again, no real match report from me. All I can say that the game was played deep in snow (kick-off was delayed by 40 minutes as they tried to clear the pitch).

With a few key players injured, namely Azofeifa and Aykut, and the coach deciding to let a few fringe players a run, including new signing from Ankaragucu Duruer, Gencler were certainly not fielding their best team.

So it's no surprise that we ended up losing.

The game:

Bolu went ahead in the 49th. (1-0)

Yasin Curri scores in injury time. (1-1)

Bolu score first in extra time (2-1)

Herve Tum scores in 112th (2-2)

126th minute and trolls take over mackolik forum. Goals are being reported for both sides. I have no idea what is happening.

127th minute and Bolu scores (3-2)

Back to the league for us then.

Ankaragucu vs Kasimpasa Match Preview !

Ankaragucu take on Kasimpasa in the Turkish Cup on Wednesday night !

Another excellent performance from Ankaragucu last night as they held Besiktas 0-0 at home in the Turkish Super Lig. The Youth team have now taken four points from there two games played.

Kasimpasa were relegated from the Turkish Super Lig last season and will be hoping to cause an upset. The visitors are in 4th Position in the Bank Aysa and only two points behind leaders Elazigspor.

Last season they met twice, the first in Ankara where Ankaragucu won 3-0, and the second game in Kasimpasa where the home side won 2-1. Although Kasimpasa are in the lower league, they must be considered favourites for this game. Can Ankaragucu Youth team pull off yet another shock ?

There will be a return to Ankara for former Ankaragucu defender Luiz Henrique. The Brazilian defender has been a key player for Kasimpasa this season. Ankaragucu will be hoping for big performances again from the likes of Aydin Toscali, Bora Kork and Ergin Keles. A big question remains over weather Turgut Dogan will still be here.

Lets hope for another good turnout from the crowd.

Gencler back down to earth

Karabukspor 2 - 1 Genclerbirligi

I'm afraid this is a very short report as I didn't see the match on the telly, nor was I able to listen to it on the radio. I can't actually remember the last time I missed a Genclerbirligi match entirely. This really is bad of me as I even managed to radio blog a Gencler match against Fenerbahce a few years ago, from the lounge room of my parent's house in Sydney in the wee hours of the morning.

Karabuk went 1-0 up first. Herve Tum equalled things before half-time and then Karabuk got the winner in the second half.... er.... that's it.

It does seem as if the wheels have come off after Gencler had such a great run at the end of 2011. Just one point after playing two relegation-threatened teams is not great.

You never know though. We could bounce back.

Ankaragucu confirms the Kankas designation ..... beshikTRASH !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

I shudder to think of the damage which Ankaragucu could have inflicted on Beshiktrash last night if they had all the 'leaves on the tree' available. As it is, with the few recognised 'leaves' remaining, Ankaragucu can be proud of their evening's efforts. All the players gave 100% and I only single-out Bora as Man of the Match due to his heroics between the sticks and getting up to clear potential danger from the 'giant' Ameida at corners and free kicks which saved a few certain goals.

Ankaragucu 0 Besiktas 0

Team -

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

Substitutes used - Mehmet, Atilla and Gurkan

Battle Damaged Kanka Damon and I met up at The Chopin and we were joined by Cider Kanka John and 'still no name kanka' Simon in the Stadium. Almost a full-house with Gecikondu and Maraton in fine voice pre and during the entire match.

Ankaragucu went for the early goal and were unlucky in the 8th minute when, first, Keles had a chance, and then from the ensuing corner, Turgut blasted over.

However, as the match settled down it was Beshiktrash looking the likelier team to score with Ankaragucu having problems getting out of their own half and defending desperately at times.

25 minutes in and the best chance of the match fell to Turgut who went on one of his mazy runs down the left wing, cut inside into the penalty box and let fly with a 'curver' which was heading for the top right hand corner. Unfortunately, Cenk made a world class save and touched the ball over for a corner.

Ankaragucu was being restricted to breakaway attacks, and from one of those, Keles scored a great 'offside goal' on the half hour mark. He was buzzing, but getting caught offside too often !

Approaching half time and a reflection of the 1st half was Bora dealing competently with everything thrown at him and the defence standing firm, although it has to be said ....... with a fair measure of luck !

Into the 2nd half and Bora was again the busiest player on the pitch. Almeida had been causing problems for most of the match with his head-flicks as he towered over the diminutive Ankaragucu defenders. Fortunately, Bora was able to deal with the high balls into Almeida who's fellow strikers were unable to feed off his good work.

Fernandes was causing all sorts of problems for the Ankaragucu defence with his probing runs and astute passing, and he came in for some stick from supporters above where we were in Maraton. On one occasion he was bombarded with plastic/metal cigarette lighters while taking a corner. Fortunately none connected, or if they did, he chose not to 'make a meal of it' and go down feigning injury which could have had serious repercussions !

65 minutes in and Keles scored his 2nd 'offside goal' but this time he also received a yellow for following through after the whistle !

5 minutes later and Beshiktrash almost made the break through from a well taken free kick, which was heading low into the bottom right hand corner, but Bora got down smartish to pull off another great save.

Into the final stages of the match and Ankaragucu was holding on desperately under extreme pressure from Beshiktrash, then .......... almost on the final whistle and a great chance came for a 'bent referee' to give Beshiktrash the 3 points when Edu made a spectacular swallow dive in the box from an innocuous tackle. Well done Mr Muftuoglu for giving that cheating 'bassa' an immediate yellow !!

So, another valuable point for the Ankaragucu 'B' Team who are now looking not a bad side, considering the haemorrhaging of players over the past 5 months. The burning question is though ............. can they hang on to Bora, Aydin, Turgut and Keles during the January Transfer Window ? If so, all is not lost me thinks !!

The next league match is away to mid-table Sivas on Sunday 15 January (probably the early KO) and it will be interesting to see if they play Rajnoch against his old club !

However, first up is the Cup match against Kasimpasa at home on Wednesday KO 6pm. This is another of those 'must win' matches to give Ankaragucu the chance to enter the group stage and earn some extra dosh for the Club !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

THE TURKISH CUP

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Surprise surprise ........ no live blogging from Oz Kanka today. Anyway, I'm sure Gencler will see off Karabuk. Ooooops ......... I hope I didn't put the kiss of death on it ??!!

Now to the Turkish Cup and the last of the knock-out rounds before going into the Group Stage.

Ankaragucu and Gencler will both be in action on Wednesday -

Boluspor v Gencler - KO 1pm
Ankaragucu v Kasimpasa - KO 6pm

Of course, these matches will depend on the weather, especially the Gencler match. Heavy snow is forecast for tomorrow and who knows how long it will last. If it continues into Tuesday then the Gencler's match will definitely be the first to be postponed.

As for the Ankaragucu match, if it goes ahead, I will be going direct from work to The Chopin and then to the Stadium at about 5ish.

Watch this space for further updates.

For now, it's off to the Stadium in a few hours to see if Ankaragucu Youth/B Team can do a Gencler to Beshiktrash !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim