ANKARAGUCU AND THEIR BLACK SUNDAY

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Apologies to The Hurriyet for stealing their headline, but it just about sums it up !

Karabukspor 5 ANKARAGUCU 1

Team -
Senecky
Ugur, Zewlakow, Rajnoch, Murat
Guven, Adem, Aydin, Sapara, Dogan
Sestak

2nd half substitutes - Metin, Ozgur and Gabric

I was first into The Beer Bus Bar followed by Rip Off Kanka Erman, Maniac Kanka Harun and Red Sox Kanka Russ.

Gecikondu looked to be well represented in the Karabuk Stadium and they were singing their heads off, as you would expect !

However, it was Karabuk who threatened first with 'olde boy' Ilhan Parlak shooting past the post on 6 minutes. Karabuk looked like they were up for it and Ankaragucu looked like they were there to defend !

Dogan did have a shot past the post on 9 minutes, but that was the only time Ankaragucu threatened until just before the half time whistle when Guven had a shot on goal which went over.

12 minutes in and I'm thinking Emenike is looking dangerous with neat touches and running off the ball. Sapara was his usual self - seeming to be everywhere urging more from Ankaragucu.

21 minutes in and Seric almost opened the scoring with a 'curler' of a shot which went just past with Senecky looking relieved. That in itself should have been a wake-up call, but it wasn't heeded.

4 minutes later the inevitable happened. A long ball out of defence which was anticipated by Emenike, but not Aydin. He controlled the ball and ran into the Ankaragucu half of the field with Zewlacow trailing in his wake. Senecky had no chance - a great striker's goal.

Murat Duruer was back in defence (whaaaaaaat ???). Great tactics putting him there Umit Bey !! He couldn't burst a paper bag, never mind tackling guys with the physique like Emenike !!! He should have been on the bench, or at the very least, shunted out to the wing where he could do minimal damage !!!

38 minutes in and Duruer gifts the ball to a Karabuk player which almost results in a goal. One minute later he does the same thing and I'm thumping the table in frustration - all eyes are on me and I apologise for my outburst. I promise not to mention Duruer's name again !!!

41 minutes in and Karabuk are really turning it on with their footie. Spreading the ball around and making Ankaragucu look 2nd Class. At last ...... the half time whistle.

Can Umit Bey wave his magic wand ? Noooooooooooooo !!!

6 minutes in and the goal of the match. Emenike turns provider and passes the ball to the unmarked player on the right wing. Off he goes, looks up, crosses just in front of 4 stationary Ankaragucu defenders to the unmarked Ilhan who delivers a perfect over-head kick into the corner. Defo a candidate for goal of the season !

Ankaragucu was reeling now, and 6 minutes later that man again, Emenike (Man of the Match), evades 5 tackles on the left before being brought down unceremoniously by Ugur on the edge of the box (I thought it was inside the box !!). Birol took it and picked his spot in the top left hand corner with the wall superfluous !

One minute later, Ankaragucu did the impossible. A goal ! Sapara (who else ?) took a free kick just outside the box and planted it in the top left hand corner with Tomic stationary.

Unsurprisingly, there was no leaping up and down from the kankas ! This was Karabuk's match and we knew it !!

67 minutes gone and Karabuk was still dictating the match, especially in midfield where they had total control.

15 minutes to go and after a memerising passing movement from Karabuk, Emenike was put through - again his running off the ball exposed the Ankaragucu defence - and he gave Senecky no chance.

10 minutes to go and Karabuk is taking the piss out of Ankaragucu, spraying their passes all over the place with Ankaragucu looking like a pale shadow of the team which beat CimBom and Fener.

Almost full time, but time for Birol to fire in another free kick to the top right hand corner with Senecky again having no chance.

The word humiliated comes to mind ! Yes, and as I said a few weeks ago, it's going to be a long and cold winter of discontent for us kankas !!

Sestak went off injured at half time, so yet more woes to add to the loss of Vittek if it is serious.

Can't say I'm looking forward to next Saturday when Sivas come calling !

btw, Ankaragucu now has the 'distinction' of having the 3rd worst defensive record in the league for shipping goals !! Every picture tells a story !!

All the best from a despondent Eski Kanka Jim

Gencler grab another point and Oz Kanka grabs two scarves from the opposite ends of the political spectrum

Your good correspondant was on his own at the Beer Bus on Saturday afternoon. Not lonely though, I had Efes at hand, footy on the tele, and a copy of Posta newspaper (which is actually more a cartoon strip than a newspaper - and that includes mehmet Ali Birand's column - he was actually spruiking a car hire service for all of his readers who might need a lift from JFK airport into New York!).

Trabzon had gone one-nil down by the time I had to leave for the stadium and it was at the gates I had my first gift of the day - a white scarf with the Genclerbirligi logo at one end and AndoluJet logo on the other.

A freebie is a freebie and I wasn't going to turn it down, even though I got quite a bit of stick from the "anti-Industrial Football" types of the Alkaralar group.

Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Sivasspor

Hopes were not particularly high before the match thanks to the fact that 326 of our first team players are currently on life-support systems at a Medicana hospital (one of our new sponsors), but still, you never know.

The game kicked off in excellent football conditions, although it was a very small crowd, and it was Sivas who showed their intent to try and get an away win.

Once again Serdar in goal was brilliant. His positional play is excellent and throughout the match he showed why Galatasaray have shown an interest in buying him during the half-season transfer window.

He denied them once or twice and then came what can only be described as a Pro-Evolution Soccer goal. A bloke makes a run down the wing and without really knowing what he was doing sent it across near the goal where the player with the gamepad is then delighted to find that someone had run in. Tap of the [A] key (at least is an [A] key on my generic brand gamepad) and bang. 0 - 1.

Gencler were up for it though and started to put the pressure on. Not much in the way of shots though. Strangely, Zumdick had put Patiyo in as the main striker, a position I had never seen him play before and clearly a big message to our only two fit specialist strikers - Billy Mehmet, who replaced Patiyo in the second half, and Kiwi Smeltz who wasn't even on the bench.

But the attacks were happening and hope was high for an equaliser. In the end it was from a free-kick.

The ball was a few metres outside the box and Soner Oktay hit it over the wall and into the left-hand side of the net. Excellent goal and the second time in two weeks we have equalised from brilliant free kicks.

EDIT: Having seen the highlights I see that at didn't actually go over the wall, but to the left of it. Still an excellent goal.

Match highlights

Half-time and I was having a cigarette next to the sign saying that smoking will net you a 2,000 billion TL fine when someone came over to me and said he would like to give me his scarf - a Kara Kizil Genclerbirligi scarf. I had no idea about who Kara Kizil until I googled them and found this site. Genclerbirligi fan politics is sooooooo far removed from the rest of the league... and that's why I love them. (having thought about it, I wonder if their giving me a scarf was a way of taking the piss out of me for having taken an AnadoluJet scarf ????)

Genclerbirligi: Where corporate marketing meets Anarcho-Communism.

Tempo dropped quite a bit after this but in second half it was almost all us. No real chances were created though and everyone in the crowd was moaning the fact that Pektemek and Zec are still injured. I would say with both of them on the field we could well have one at least three out of our last four matches.

The game ended how it began with Serdar making a great save from Serdar.

Oh yes, one of our guys went off injured in the first half. No word yet on if he has survived or will be back next week.

ANKARAGUCU RECEIVE AN EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Christmas came early for Ankaragucu this year in the small city of Karabuk.

They were kind enough to show Ankaragucu how the game of football should be played and offered to share their secret with us.

Karabuk 5 ANKARAGUCU 1

I am so full of superlatives for Karabuk's lessons that I can't find the words tonight.

Perhaps tomorrow would be a good time to expostulate on Karabuk's skills and Ankaragucu's lack of skills !!!

Yes, a good idea. Sleep on your anger, and report with a cool head tomorrow !!!

All the best from 'level headed' Eski Kanka Jim

Another draw for Genclerbirligi

It ended up 1 - 1 and we were a bit unlucky not to have got a winner against Sivas. Oh yes, and another injury, our 35th this season. Full report tomorrow.

ANKARAGUCU - LATEST

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

The latest news from The Hurriyet newspaper today ..........

The KO time for the Karabuk v Ankaragucu match on Sunday has been changed from 5pm to 1.30pm. The reason was not given ! So, please meet in The Beer Bus Bar from 1pm.

Also reported was the ongoing saga of players not being paid.

Metin, Adem, Aydin, Ugur and Guven have all stated that they are planning to take their case to the TFF if this is not resolved soon.

Also, Vassel is reported as stating that he plans to take his case to FIFA. Apparently, Ankaragucu still owes him 500 Thousand Euros !

All doom and gloom on the horizon me thinks !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU - BLOWING HOT AND COLD .... AGAIN !

(Ankaragucu on the attack - look at the well drilled Istanbul BBS defence formation !)

(Nehri of Anti-X Group strutting his stuff and showing his colours !)

(Pre-match smiles from Smiley Kankie, Red Sox Kanka and Eski Kanka)

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

We needed more than optimism pills yesterday - more like 'uppers' were needed to calm nerves in the 2nd half !

Istanbul BBS are no mugs, as their high league position testifies !

ANKARAGUCU 2 Istanbul Buyuk Belidiye Spor 2

The Team -

Senecky

Ugur, Rajnoch, Aydin, Gabric

Murat, Weeks, Kagan, Guven

Sapara

Dogan

2nd half substitutes - Mehmet, Ozgur and Metin

We all met in The Beer Bus Bar - all 5 of us ! Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Smiley Kankie Ozge, Red Sox Kanka Russ (who left early !!) and I. Back Pack Kanka David, recently arrived in Ankara, joined us as we were leaving - looked like he had hitch-hiked all the way from Toronto !!

Into the Stadium just prior to the National Anthem and we were almost off.

I must confess I wasn't happy with the line-up. No Sestak (suspended - too many yellow cards !). No Vittek - still recovering from injury. Metin on the bench. Meye (that's a mystery). So, are we going back to the bad olde days of playing a 'Lone Ranger' up front ..... and at home as well ??!! C'mon Umit Bey, let's be a little more adventurous !!!

Ankaragucu was first to threaten on 7 minutes when Guven sent a screamer in on goal but it was just over.

However, Istanbul was looking dangerous and their passing was pretty damn good compared to Ankaragucu's continuing habit of giving the ball away and taking on one too many defenders. Istanbul had lots of players running off the ball making themselves available for the simple pass. Umit Bey, do you practice these elementary tactics in the Training Ground ??!!

A pretty boring first half ended with me thinking of another 0-0 !

Ankaragucu came out a different team in the 2nd half. How many times have I said this over the past few months ??

5 minutes in and a corner slung over by Sapara into the box and Aydin was first to it to head in.

4 minutes later and a cross into the box from Sapara and a great bullet of a header from the hard-working Dogan to send us all into song.

Was there a goal avalanche I thought ? Grrrrrrr ........ silly me !!

Istanbul stepped up another gear - they were digging deep and refusing to lie-down.

Then Istanbul was awarded a free kick just ouside the box and Ibrahim sent in a fantastic ball into the top right hand corner. Vintage Sapara !

Ankaragucu didn't have time to catch their breath and slow the game down. One minute later an Istanbul breakaway sent Tum off with defenders struggling to keep pace with him. Bang..... and in goes the equaliser.

Momentary shock ........ and then the volume was increased from the tribunes.

It was all end-to-end footie now. Sapara was everywhere shouting instructions (a quote from Battle Damaged ..... he's the backbone of the team. And from Eski ...... he's the engine room of the team) ! Dogan was back in defence at times and Rajnoch was up in attack.

Tum almost scored the winner 5 minutes from time but a great save from Senecky denied him.

Dogan had a goal-bound shot saved 4 minutes from time.

The nerve ends were jangling as Ankaragucu pressed for the winner in time added on, but it was not to be.

A fighting 2nd half display from Ankaragucu but a case of 2 points lost rather than 1 point gained.

Next Sunday Ankaragucu will be away in Karabuk, so probably watching this one in The Beer Bus Bar. KO time to be announced where known.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

ANKARAGUCU - COLD .... HOT .... COLD !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Another old-old story from Ankara with Ankaragucu blowing hot and cold during the 90 minutes.

ANKARAGUCU 2 Istanbul BBS 2

There we were 5 minutes into the 2nd half and two quick great goals from Ankaragucu and we are all singing and dancing. When is the 3rd ........... yesssssss ?

Wrong ......... again !

Just as we were blowing hot again ........... it turned slightly chilly !!

Full report tomorrow sometime ..... with photos a la Damon !

btw, I thought Istanbul's 2nd goal was offside. Am I biased ? No doubt Nadeem will give the verdict in his comment !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim