ANKARAGUCU – JABA WON A HEADER, OR ….. WAS IT TWO ?!!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

The headline belongs to Mountaineering Kanka Robbie, but it was ONE header he said. I disagreed and made it two !

The first one was a header on goal, which if he had neck muscles like his thigh muscles, would have gone in, but …. it didn’t. The second was a cross which he headed back into the ‘danger area’ but was saved by Volkan.

Anyway, the point is made. Jaba is putting himself about more and getting into scoring positions. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out tonight ….

ANKARAGUCU 0 Fenerbahce 0

As usual, it started out on a high note in The Chopin Bar with high hopes after the 3-1 win away to Eskisehir last week.

In attendance, Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Kaleci Kanka Tansu, Rip Off Kanka Erman, Casenova Kanka Gokhan, Mountaineering Kanka with his entourage from the Yoo-Ess-ov-Ai, Erin, Angela, Jamie and Steve. Well, most of them are Yanks, but Steve hails from Conneticut which may still be under British or Canadian rule ….. I’m not sure which !! Almost forgot Selami who was a peripheral supporter – was he an Ankaragucu or Fener supporter I ask ??!!

Off to the Stadium and Yankee Kanka was there to meet us. Unfortunately, Maniac Kanka Harun was absent today due to work commitments.

The match underway, Fener were first out of the starting blocks attacking Ankaragucu. My ‘Man of the Match’, Santos, saved the early goal after 2 minutes with a headed clearance off the line. A wake up call if ever it was needed ! Santos is going to be a key element in Karaman’s team and has made a significant start to his career here.

After that early scare, the match settled down into an end-to-end contest with Fener creating most of the openings. The Ankaragucu defence was working overtime and Serkan was in fine form.

There were few openings at the other end apart from a Gokhan free kick which went narrowly wide.

Ankaragucu was playing with ‘fire in their bellies’ and not giving Fener time to settle on the ball. This is what we, as supporters, have missed in previous matches. There was a ‘hunger’ for the ball and lots of movement from Ankaragucu. Great stuff !

I was happy enough to go in at half time 0-0 with optimism of things to come.

Into the second half then and Ankaragucu took control. It was mostly one way traffic leading to Volkan’s goal, and in all honesty the pressure exerted should have produced the winning goal.

I mentioned Jaba’s headed effort, but there were so many other near misses that I lost count.

Gokhan’s free kick which went inches wide. Jaba, El-Yasa, Ilkem and Gokhan (again) all went close with serious chances with Volkan beaten, but the side netting came to Fener’s rescue and poor finishing summed up Ankaragucu’s night when they really should have wrapped the match up.

The referee came in for criticism from the kankas for denying a penalty to Ankaragucu, but with ‘hand on heart’ I have to say that it was a situation of ‘ball to hand’ and not ‘hand to ball’. In the final analysis it is the referee’s opinion which counts !!

Near the end of the match with Ankaragucu still pressing forward we saw another stupid idiot running onto the field and ‘missiles’ from Maraton being thrown onto the pitch, one of which hit the referee in the leg (they were probably meant for Wederson who is a f...... in .... wan....r if ever there was one). Gecikondu joined in and started to throw bits of chairs at the police. Surely another punishment from the TFF for Ankaragucu which may well affect the Galatasaray match in 2 weeks time me thinks ?!

So, a good night’s work from Ankaragucu, but it could so easily have been a famous victory with some cool heads up front.

Back we went to The Chopin Bar where we were met by Maniac Kanka and time to celebrate Hibs victory in Motherwell !!

Next weekend Ankaragucu is away to Ankaraspor in the ‘Stadium from Hell’. Not sure if we are going, but it is a possibility. As always, watch this space.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim