Greetings Kankas and Kankies.
Perhaps it was divine intervention, or on the other hand, it may have been Hakan Karaman's tactics, but Ankaragucu played last night as though they were going to be League Champions rather than relegation fodder !
Anyway, the unthinkable has been avoided. Going down in a centenary year was just too much to contemplate for Ankaragucu, or for any team for that matter !
ANKARAGUCU 3 Denizlispor 0
We all assembled as usual in The Chopin Bar full of optimism. I for one assured everyone that Hakan Bey's tactics would be all out attack, and so it proved.
A good turn-out of kankas and kankies plus a VIP Guest. The VIP Guest was Phillie Kanka's father, Casey, who told me he had come to Turkey to visit his son, but his prime reason for coming to Turkey was to see the Mighty Ankaragucu in action ! Shall we believe him ???
Also there, Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Mountaineering Kanka Robbie, Kaleci Kanka Tansu, Phillie Kanka Jamie, Connect Kanka Steve, Venezuela Kanka Romulo, Welsh Kanka Glyn, Missouri Kankie Ema, Colorado Kankie Angela, Rebecca and coming to a footie match for the first time, Emily. We met up with Rip Off Kanka Erman at the Stadium.
Into the Stadium then and, as usual, it was full in all the Ankaragucu tribunes. There was a small group of Denizli supporters in the 'away end' but they didn't have much to cheer about during the match and slunk away near the end of the match.
It was a strong line up for Ankaragucu with Serkan in goal, Santos, Boozy, Ilkem and El Yasa at the back. Super Captain Ceyhun, Kerem and Semavi in midfield, and Jaba, Mehmet and Iglesias up front. Barbaros was suspended and De Negris and Metin were on the bench.
As predicted, Ankaragucu was fast out the traps and all over Denizli. Some good chances were missed in the opening half hour but it was only a matter of time before the pressure paid off.
Serkan was having a quiet night and Ceyhun and Simavi were in total control of the midfield.
The first goal came on 34 minutes and there was some luck attached to it. What goes around comes around ! After last week's howlers against BJK it was time for Lady Luck to smile on Ankaragucu for a change !
Jaba had a weak shot on goal, which I'm sure he will admit he mis-hit. The ball deceived everyone and trickled over the line to howls of relief from the tribunes. Up the volume and let's sing louder !
Going in at half time 1-0 was acceptable I suppose, but then came the news that Fener were 4 up against Konya and cue …... smiles on faces and let's dance the misket to the music at half time !
More of the same in the 2nd half with Ankaragucu firmly in control and the Denizli defence running around in circles. Then on the 60th minute the goal of the match. The ball swung over by Ceyhun and there was Mehmet running in to bullet a header in for No2. Off comes the shirt in celebration and out comes the yellow card ….. tut tut tut !
Still, Ankaragucu wasn't quite finished. 5 minutes later a defensive cock-up gifted the ball to Ceyhun. He hesitated for a split second expecting a flag for offside which didn't come. Off he goes one on one with Ozden in goal, but with Ozden narrowing the angle, Ceyhun looked up and spotted the incoming Semavi. An unselfish cut-back and Semavi stroked the ball into the empty goal.
The noise was unbelievable now and cue …..... let's do a Mexican Wave. It was party time and its been a long time since we had a carnival atmosphere in the Stadium for an Ankaragucu match !
No more goals, but near the end substitute Metin has a screamer which on any other day would have gone in and burst the net.
The final whistle and time for the lap of honour. Also, all the backroom staff came on to the centre circle to give us their version of the misket. Not bad, but not quite up to kankas standards !
Back to The Chopin then for celebrations where we met up with Oz Kanka Chris who was in fine form having been there for the BJK v Galatasaray match.
So, it looks very likely that Konya will be heading in a 'southerly direction', but it will all be decided next weekend.
Ankaragucu will be away in Antalya for what is a match that Antalya must win to avoid the drop. So, the Ankaragucu kankas will no doubt be going to the Gencler v Kayseri match to support Gencler in their effort to avoid being in the relegation mix.
A great all round team performance from Ankaragucu today and I'm sure Hikmet Bey will want to hang on to most of the players for next season. As I've said before, if we had started the season with this team we would have been up there challenging at the top of the league alongside Sivas and Trabzon !
All the best from a happy and relieved Eski Kanka Jim
The Round Ball in Ankara! Dedicated to football lovers in Ankara (Except for those who follow Osmanlispor)
What a way to finish up the season.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope Cengiz Topel keeps Hikmet on as the coach. Hikmet managed to take the same players who were struggling and turn them into a real team. No small feat. Although, the return of Ceyhun had a lot to do with that as well.
But Welsh Kanka Glyn was right about a couple of things: the team really needs to learn how to keep it together better under pressure, and keep the ball on the ground instead of relying so much on the ineffective high ball tactic.
Deliriously happy that our hundredth will be in the Super Lig.
A glorious victory, indeed.
ReplyDeleteAfter the match I realized that the prospect of relegation has been looming over our heads since at least the start of March. It will be nice to have one weekend of football free from such worry.