ANKARAGUCU – HALFWAY TO THE 2nd LEAGUE ?!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

There are some adjectives (and nouns) to describe Ankaragucu’s performance yesterday which were voiced by the Kankas at the end of the match, eg, pathetic, pitiful, woeful, inept, inadequate, diarrhoea, etc. Get the picture ?!

Also, Kaleci Kanka was even quoted after the match as saying it was the worst Ankaragucu performance he had ever witnessed !

So, we were not very happy bunnies when we left the Stadium at 4pm on a cold, wet and windy Ankara winter’s day !

ANKARAGUCU 0 Antalyaspor 1

As usual, it all started out on an optimistic note, and why not. We were playing at home against one of the bottom clubs which had a history of not producing results ‘on the road’. So spirits were high !

I was first into The Chopin (as usual), to be joined soon after by Ema and Mike (exchange students from the USA). Battle Damaged Kanka Damon and Kaleci Kanka Tansu were next, followed by the 3 stalwart Ankaragucu Bilkent Yanks.

Off to the Stadium then where we were met by Yankee Kanka and his brother Huso. Also there was one of the original kankas from 2000, Desert Kanka Murat and his son Bora. By the way, Murat turned his back on the Libyan Desert a few years ago so we may have to rename him ?! Also, Bora is a Fener supporter (his Grandfather, Engin, taught him well me thinks ??!!).

We weren’t the only ones in an optimistic frame of mind. Gecikondu and Maraton were their normal boisterous selves and they gave us a new chant. We will call it the …… Oooooooooooo …………… Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh chant ! True, not many lyrics to learn, but with a few thousand chanting, it brought some humour to the proceedings, and, God, did we need that !!

The first half was a non-event as far as footie purists were concerned. The gusting wind did play a factor in the shabby footie on offer, but that should not be used as an excuse for the garbage which we witnessed. Nor should the weird decisions given by the referee, Hakan Ozkan, (mostly in favour of Antalya !!).

The Antalya Coach obviously told his players at the half time ‘team talk’ that Ankaragucu was there for the taking and they came out in the 2nd half the more determined team. Having told Ema that we always score attacking the Gecikondu end in the 2nd half, I was made to eat my words !

There were only two serious efforts from Ankaragucu in the match (both in the 2nd half). The first from a goalmouth scramble when Omer managed to claw the ball away from crossing the line – from my advantageous position I thought the ball was over the line before he clawed it away, but the linesman thought otherwise !

The second was a rocket from Mehmet (his only valuable contribution in the entire match in what was a poor performance from him) which went screaming past the post with Omer stationary.

It was mostly all Antalya in the 2nd half and it was no surprise when they opened the scoring following a fast breakaway from midfield. Tita slotted it home on 70 minutes with the Ankaragucu defence nowhere and Serkan totally exposed and helpless.

The fight back never materialised, with Ankaragucu continuing to give the ball away and pass the ball to Antalya players. Frustration was creeping in on the field and in the terraces !

Jaba came on shortly after the goal (why wasn’t he on from the start ??!!) and tried to motivate the front runners and midfield, but it was like pissing into the wind !

Apart from Jaba, the only player with his ‘head up’ was the impressive Hasan Ucuncu and Abdulaziz who came on for the last 5 minutes.

All credit to Antalya for a great 2nd half performance and a fully deserved win which was rewarded at the end with a standing ovation from Gecikondu and Maraton.

As for Ankaragucu, more performances like this and they will be heading in a southwards direction as indicated in my headline !

So, at the halfway point in the league, Ankaragucu sit in 3rd bottom position in the league and after 17 matches their goal tally of 14 scored speaks volumes about their problems !

I don’t have the statistics to hand, but my guess is that most of these goals came from Gokhan (since departed ...... boo hoo hoo !), Captain Murat Erdogan and Jaba. So, my question to Hakan Kutlu is ………. why are you persisting to play Mehmet and Iglesias up front ??!!

The sooner De Negris dons the Ankaragucu top the better I say !

Next weekend is another home match against Konya. Details from Oz Kanka in a kanka mail soon.

All the best from a frustrated and worried Eski Kanka Jim