Bye bye Rize

As Sir Eski explained in his post below the kankas met up at the Chopin and after a few beers I said farewell and as they went off to watch the Ankaragucu match I headed off to the Kapadokia where the plan was to watch the Fener-Genclerbirligi match.

But no... even in a pub owned and run by a Genclerbirligi club member the first choice match was Sivas-Galatasaray. I complained at first and they decided they would show five minutes of one and then five minutes of the other. While it didn't quite turn out like that it was a compromise I had to live with.

After being joined by Smart Arse Yankee Kanka it dawned on us that Ankara needs some sports bars, places to avoid like the plague during the week but which have wall-to-wall TVs so we could have watched all three matches that were being televised last night. Admittedly it doesn't happen often but last night it would have been quite handy.

All that is a long way of excusing myself on giving any commentary on Fenerbahce's 3-2 victory over Genclerbirligi.

Not much commentary anyway. Kahe scored first to huge cheers in the Kapadokia. There were also cheers when Fener got back in it thanks to a handball that no-one seemed to spot. Actually that might have been Fener's second goal... I'm not sure, by this stage the amber fluid was taking affect.

Hakan Aslantas scored our second goal but that was towards the end of the match and in the end we lost 3-2. Annoying, yes... but back to atmosphere in the pub. As I was saying there were cheers for every goal in the two matches we were watching... for Sivas, Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Genclerbirligi. Of course it was all a case of "my enemy's enemy is my friend". The Turkish Super Lig seems to be making a habit of having exciting races for the title and last night's matches were fun.

Unfortunately Sivas won't be winning that title after losing 5-3 to Galatasaray. But for Smart Arse Yankee Kanka and myself the biggest cheers came after the tickertape thing on the screen showed that Kasimpasa was two-nil up against Rize. In the end Rize got one back but after that loss Genclerbirligi are officially staying up, no matter what we do next week against Sivas.

Shame we couldn't destroy Fenerbahce's slim hopes of winning the league, but I don't really care. From reports I've seen on the Gencler fan forums we played well. In the end that is all that matters because on Wednesday we are off to Bursa for the Cup final against Kayseri.

Spine, French Kanka Hande, Maniac Kanka Harun and myself are making the trip. I think Ertank is as well but he has gone all quiet. Wish us luck!

KO is 8pm by the way and those kankas left behind in Ankara can watch the match at the Chopin.