ANKARAGUCU - STILL UNDEFEATED AT HOME

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Eight matches in and ANKARAGUCU has only lost (narrowly) to the `Big Two` away from home.

ANKARAGUCU 2 Sivasspor 2

I walked into The Cappadokia Bar at 5pm to join my Gencler Kankas for the 2nd half of their match away to Besik….spit….tas (see Oz Kanka’s post) and saw the glum faces with Gencler one down. Also, Oz Kanka cheered me no end by informing me that ANKARAGUCU was two down to Sivas at half time !! Tears of sadness all round !!

Six o’clock and all the ANKARAGUCU kankas started to arrive in a fleet of taxis from the Stadium with `half` smiles on their faces.

Another increased entourage of Bilkent Babes led by the famous Mountaineering Kanka Robbie. Too numerous to mention all their names, but a few from last week were given their kankie names in a `naming ceremoney` performed by Oz Kanka, Maniac Kanka and I.

Anna is now Holy Cross Kankie (her olde school across the pond in the YooEss has the same name as Oz Kanka’s Down Under !), Kasha is Blonde Babe Kankie (for obvious reasons !!), Karly is Hula Hula Kankie (my God, can she dance !), Alix is Mid Atlantic Kankie (she is still trying to figure out where she came from !), and Nicky is Trekking Kankie (she is one fit lady !).

Also, there were Maniac Kanka, Yankee Kanka, Rip Off Kanka Erman, Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Mountaineering Kanka Robbie, Mountaineering Kankie Judy, Kaleci Kanka Tansu (his father played in goal for ANKARAGUCU many moons ago !), Teddy Bear Kanka Phillip (he’s sooooooo cuddly !!), and Freaky Deaky Dutch Kanka Niels.

For those I missed…………….. sorrrreeeeee !

To footie, and Moutaineering Kanka gave me a brief report on the match. A full Stadium at the ANKARAGUCU end and a fairly good turnout of Sivas supporters.

Both teams went into the attack from the off, but it was Sivas who opened the scoring after 10 minutes after a defensive blunder in the ANKARAGUCU defence which allowed Mohammed to score unchallenged.

ANKARAGUCU continued to attack but again it was Sivas who extended their lead after 25 minutes when Mehmet was allowed a free pot at goal with the ANKARAGUCU defence posted missing. At this stage, the main culprit, new boy Alonso Mateus, was withdrawn and Murat Erdogan introduced to steady the ship at the back. Captain Emre was missing due to one too many yellow cards !!

Herr Briegel said the right words at the half time break and ANKARAGUCU came out all fired up. It only took 3 minutes for Kirita to score with his head from a free kick. It was all ANKARAGUCU now as they searched for the equaliser.

It came with 10 minutes to go with another header, this time from Jaba, who I’m pleased to say was on from the start. It was full-on attack then to the final whistle but Sivas held out to snatch a point they didn’t really deserve.

Mountaineering Kanka’s Man of the Match was Serkan in the ANKARAGUCU goal who kept the score down in the 1st half when Sivas threatened to take control.

A break next weekend for YooRo 2008 footie, but the signs are looking good for ANKARAGUCU. Herr Briegel has obviously instilled a will to win mentality into the side and, as I said a few weeks ago, has them playing for 90 minutes and fighting for every ball.

With seven `should win` matches coming up against OFTAS, Rize, Bursa, Antep, Manisa, Konya and Kasimpasa this is a great opportunity for ANKARAGUCU to put themselves into the top 4 YooRo slots in the league before the winter break.

See you in 2 weeks time for the OFTAS match.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

PS...... Scotland lost to The Arggies last night in The Funny Shaped Ball match ..... grrrrrrrr !!!