Gencler play like crap, but we'll take the three points

Report coming up soon. But in the meantime watch me and Little Oz Kanka celebrating... (yes I was drunk).



By the way, this is the one thousandth post for the Round ball in Ankara!

And now for the report
How many times have I written that Gencler have played well only to lose. Well, today we played like a bunch of goats but still somehow managed to win.

Genclerbirligi 1 - 0 Gaziantepspor

What a wonderful day. Sunny, warm... a perfect spring day when Little Oz Kanka and myself headed off to the Chopin. I got to the bar, ordered a beer for myself and a cola for Little Oz Kanka and then left the little fellow as I went off to Burger king to get him a hamburger... The next part I have to rely on my 5 year-old son to describe.

"Some people came to the bar and looked at me. They then went inside and came back out and sat next to me. I just wanted my hamburger."

I came back to find that Steve, his good wife Ann Marie and their sons Liam and Ciaran were sitting next to a slightly worried looking Little Oz Kanka. Eh, he didn't care because I had a hamburger for him.

Chatting away in the sun when Spine showed up and not long later Orcan and his mate and then Wolfgang.

Then it became cold. All it took was a little bit of wind and the clouds to turn our lovely spring day into something ... er... cold.

I had to give my coat to Little Oz Kanka, who looked pretty cool in a jacket about 20 sizes too big for him and after a few more beers we headed off to the stadium.

I was feeling quite smart after we outwitted the cops by putting all of our coins, lighters etc into Little Oz Kanka's bag only for Little Oz Kanka to start complaining that as we got our stuff in to the stadium why couldn't he bring in the really cool stone he had found in the garden bed at the Chopin. You can never win!

Match on... and well... crap.

This was possibly the worse I've seen Gencler for a long, long time. Passes... to no one, shots... none.

It was real dire stuff. Admittedly Gaziantep weren't much better, but this was a performance that would have had the Under 14s shaking their heads in shame. We didn't have a single shot on goal for the entire first half!

Bloody pathetic.

Then something weird happened. People in the crowd at half-time started handing out red and black balloons (much to Little Oz Kanka's joy). These plastic things somehow got the crowd going and for the second half us Gencler fans started to sing as loud as we could. It was the first time since we played Blackburn in the Uefa Cup back in ... er 2003 I think, that we actually managed to get a chant going around the stadium.

Quite amazing really. The football was still crap though.

Then Troisi got the ball in midfield, inside the opposition half. He sent it out to the right to Mehmet Nas who then sent it in. Kahe, who had done bugger all for most of the match then managed to get it past the Antep keeper.

It was our first shot on goal. It was also our last shot on goal.

Hearts in mouths towards the end as Antep sent quite a few wide, and also had a few corners.... but in the end the referee blew it up and we got the three points. Pure relief. Back to the Chopin with Spine, Rebecca and Jenna (who had joined up with us at the stadium) and a couple of celebratory beers (Fanta for Little Oz Kanka).

That was one lucky day.

PS: Little Oz Kanka says that we are not allowed to tell his mummy (who is away at the moment) that he had a hamburger, chips and a cola before the match, then a fanta and chips after the match, but you are allowed to point out that he ate a banana at the match.