ANKARAGUCU - AN UNIMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE

Oh dear ! Two league defeats in a row and it’s back to the drawing board for Hikmet Bey !

Friday night in Izmir ended ………..

ANKARAGUCU 0 Fenerbahce 1

It all started in The Chopin Bar as usual with Flying Dutchman Kanka and I trying to organise tables for the expected kankas. However, the pub was heaving with bodies and completely full by the time Maniac Kanka and his entourage arrived ! We even had the welcome sight of Battle Hardened Kanka and the Bilkent crew in situ ! All in all, a good turn out for Train Spotting Kanka’s last ANKARAGUCU match…… well …… until he return as he promised for a visit with his family ?! So, we were forced to put Plan B into action and move to the Cappadokia Bar where we were all able to sit together in comfort.

Into the match and it was fairly evenly balanced in the 1st half with most of the action occurring in midfield. It was rather surprising to see Bebbe playing deep which I assumed was part of the containment tactics being employed by Hikmet Bey.

Then…… tilt …… just before half time Fener sprung the trap and made a very quick break down the left wing with Tuncay leaving ANKARAGUCU defenders in his wake. He glanced up and saw Appiah making a parallel run on the right and sent over an inch perfect cross above the two ANKARAGUCU defenders policing Appiah. With a flick of his right foot, Appiah wrong footed the two ANKARAGUCU defenders, brought the ball under control, and fired in with his left foot for a stunning goal.

It could be argued perhaps that he was fortunate that the ball took a deflection off the post to deceive Serkan, but it should not detract from the fact that it was a clinical and well created goal.

The 2nd half was generally one way traffic in Serkan’s direction with he, Emre and Sedat performing miracles to keep the score respectable.

ANKARAGUCU only had one SERIOUS attempt to equalise in the whole match when Tita blasted over when it would have been easier to score. Bloody Hell …….. even Oz Kanka would have made it !!

Kezman foolishly got himself sent off half way through the 2nd half for some clumsy tackling and I’m sure Mr Zico will be advising him to leave defending to the defenders !!

Even playing against 10 men, it has to be said that ANKARAGUCU’s powder-puff attack never looked like scoring with their old failing of that final pass going astray coming back to haunt them.

So, another depressing result against an Istanbul team which has moved ANKARAGUCU back into the bottom half of the league. The UEFA Cup dream has not disappeared ……. yet. We still have a good cup run in our sights !!

Now there’s optimism for you !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim