ANKARAGUCU - YET ANOTHER CRISIS !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Not content with dealing with the recent crisis in the Boardroom, Ankaragucu has created another one on the pitch. Despite all their possession and efforts to play football last night, the players failed to deliver and the 'natives are becoming restless' !

ANKARAGUCU 1 Genclerbirligi 2

The lone Ankaragucu kanka (ie .... Moi) met up with a host of Gencler kankas in The Chopin last night. Oz Kanka Chris and his merry men (and lady) were in fine fettle, and why not considering Gencler's impressive record in derby matches over the past few years.

Roger from Eskisehir was welcomed into the fold, regular kankas Spine Kanka Steve and French Kankie Hande and also some latecomers Oguz and his son and Ilker.

We then dispersed our different ways to the Stadium where I was greeted by Yankee Kanka.

As usual the Stadium was almost full of Ankaragucu supporters in full voice. The less said about the number of Gencler supporters in the away end the better !!

The match got underway with the usual end to end stuff with the players feeling each other out and Ankaragucu surprised me with their standard of footie and their passing which was a big improvement on recent performances. The team is beginning to take on a familiar pattern -

Serkan
Cihan, El-Yasa, Ediz and Broggi
Mehmet Cakir, Ceyhun, Hurriyet and Barbaros
Vassell and Iglesias

Semavi, Ufuk and Emre came on as 2nd half substitutes.

I'm not sure what the position is with our two South Africans, especially the impressive Sosibo, or Henderson. They haven't featured recently, but after last night's result, perhaps they will soon !

With the match just settling down after 10 minutes play, disaster struck for Ankaragucu with a well taken Gencler corner. There appeared to be a ricochet off a defender or the post and the loose ball was dispatched easily by Pektemek. Here we go again I thought .... another mountain to climb !

However, all credit to Ankaragucu, they took control of the match from this point right up to half time with some sustained pressure on the Gencler goal. Vassell was winning nothing in the air and was well marked out of the match by the impressive Gencler back four, especially Radeljic.

Cihan playing at right full back was causing all sorts of problems with his attacking runs and it was from one of those that the equaliser came on the half hour mark. From a great run down the right wing, the ball was swung over and met by Barbaros to score a well deserved equaliser.

Up the volume in expectation of a 2nd goal before half time ! I lost count of how many chances were missed by Iglesias and Ceyhun, and the teams went in at half time all square.

I had a text message from Oz Kanka at half time which just about summed up the first half ......... quote .. you deserve to be ahead .... unquote. My response was .... yes, true, but .... Meaning that the round leather thingie must be put between the sticks and into the net !!!

The 2nd half was more even with Gencler coming more into the match and Ankaragucu beginning to huff and puff. So, it was no surprise when the winner came 10 minutes from the end and a great goal it was too.

Hursit who had replaced Harbuzi half way through the 2nd half was the creator and he was causing the Ankaragucu defence all sorts of problems with his dangerous runs down the left. It was from one of those runs when he turned Semavi inside out and put in an inviting cut-back for Kahe to pick his place in the corner with Serkan well beaten.

With Ceyhun and Cihan off, Ankaragucu lost their shape and struggled in the last 10 minutes to contain the now rampant Gencler.

A classic story of missed chances but nice football doesn't win matches and the record books will show that Gencler took 3 points and Ankaragucu took .... nothing !

As I mentioned at the beginning, the natives are becoming restless and at the end of the match their wrath was directed towards the coach Hikmet Karaman and Serkan.

Serkan may have played his last match for Ankaragucu because I saw him spitting on the ground towards the tribunes in Maraton. This is unacceptable behaviour from a professional football player, irrespective of the fans anger, and I am surprised and disappointed that he took this action.

So, another crisis is looming. Played 6 and won none. What next ? A case of wait and see but I'm wondering if it is time to try and lure Ersun Yanal away from the TV Company who he is with and bring him back into the fold. Am I dreaming again ??

All the best from a despairing Eski Kanka Jim