PEACE BREAKS OUT IN ANKARA !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

After last weekend's `Battle of 19 Mayis Stadium`, peace was finally declared prior to last night's 2nd Round Turkish Cup match.

The websites of the Tribunes were busy over the past few days with words of contrition and a peace treaty was the sensible way forward ..... thankfully.

So to footie .....

ANKARAGUCU 5 Giresun 1

Maniac Kanka Harun, Rip Off Kanka Erman and I met in The Cappadokia Bar, and after `refreshments`, off we went to The Stadium and took our usual place in Maraton.

Lots of singing from Maraton and Kapali, but Gecikondu was unusually quiet. However, after calls of encouragement from Maraton and Kapali, they fired themselves up.

Giresun took the lead in the first few minutes of the match with the Ankaragucu defence `sleeping`. A great through ball which took everyone by surprise and left Serkan with no chance.

Perplexed looks from the 3 of us and all those around us. Hands being thrown up by the defence and guilty looks all round with Serkan shaking his head in disgust.

Time to step up a gear, and so they did. It was all Ankaragucu now with waves of attacks and the equaliser coming from Jaba when he seized on a loose ball to tap in.

The 2nd followed soon after from a Mehmet Yilmaz header and that's how it stayed till half time. Giresun were beginning to come more into the match as half time approached, but Moine and Tolga (solid in defence) had an easy task of breaking things up.

Into the 2nd half with Ankaragucu attacking the Gecikondu end and it was a delight to see the team on all-out attack.

Half way through the 2nd half the master-stroke was delivered by Hakan Kutlu when he introduced Gokhan and Murat Erdogan at the same time.

The response was immediate with both players playing pivotal roles in making the result secure.

Gokhan's running on the right and Erdogan's on the left had Giresun's defence spinning in circles. Gokhan set-up the 3rd for Mehmet to send in a screamer, and Erdogan added a 4th to put the game beyond Giresun.

The 5th came at the end when the Giresun goalkeeper brought Leandro down in the penalty area. Moine made no mistake from the spot.

So, all in all, a satisfying night with peace on the terraces and a long overdue convincing victoreeee. Goals breed confidence !

Lots of positives to take from the match, but a special mention for Erdogan, my Man of the Match, who covered every blade of `false` grass in search of the ball. He was also a tiger in the tackle ! A great example for the team which will hopefully be spelt out by Hakan Kutlu in training. Have to say that Murat Duruer again failed to impress me. My guess is that it is time for Leandro to replace him up front !

Ankaragucu will now enter the group phase and I will post the composition of the group when it is announced by the TFF.

Next up is the `away` league match against Hacettepe on Sunday KO 8pm. Meeting in The Chopin as normal from 5.30pm. Going to the Stadium at 7pm.

Look forward to seeing you there.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim