Greetings Kankas and Kankies.
I still have a wee bit of a hangover from last night, but I'm reasonably sober to write a few paragraphs.
What is it about The Inonu Stadium ? Does Besiktas raise their game for Ankaragucu ? Does Ankaragucu have a death wish about this Stadium ? Whatever the reason, we lost again and I couldn't tell you the last time Ankaragucu won a match there, so don't ask !
Besiktas 1 ANKARAGUCU 0
Hopes were high in The Chopin Bar where we all met up. Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Oz Kanka Chris, Spine Kanka Steve, Kaleci Kanka Tansu and ............ surprise surprise ...... Maniac Kanka Harun turned up to surprise us all. We also had a visit from one of Eski's old students, the beautiful and charming Merve, who has just returned to Ankara after graduating from a Uni in Oz.
Battle Damaged was first to point out the good news that Serkan was back in goal for Ankaragucu. So, as I said, hopes were high even without the injured Vassell. The team -
Serkan
El-Yasa, Ediz, Koray and Adem
Murat, Hurriyet, Weeks and Broggi
Ceyhun and Meye
2nd half substitutes used were - Emre, Aydin and Barbaros
Ankaragucu came out of the traps fast and took the game to Besiktas. I think Hikmet Bey has learned that this is the only way to play the Istanbul 3 !
The match looked pretty even until the 17th minute when lady luck played a part in the match. Ismail of Besiktas picked up a loose ball well outside the penalty area (about 40 metres I would say) and fired in a speculative shot which had lots of power in it. However, that's when lady luck intervened and the ball hit El-Yasa to be deflected out of reach of Serkan's dive. I could see from the replay that Serkan had the ball covered but it was a wicked deflection and he was helpless to reach the ball as it entered the opposite side of the goal from which it was intended.
No criticism of Ismail who had a very good match, but there is no way that the goal should be creditted to him !
Ankaragucu continued to press forward for the remainder of the match, but apart from good opportunities which fell to Meye and Hurriyet, they rarely troubled the Besiktas back four or 'the giraffe' in goal.
Disappointing not to have taken at least one point from this match, but as I said earlier, there must be a hoodoo hanging over the Inonu Stadium for Ankaragucu.
Memories of our fantastic performance against Galatasaray are fading fast, so it becomes crucial to win next week's home match against Kasimpasa.
Hopefully Vassell will be fit by then. I am anxious to see how Vassell and Meye play together with Ceyhun supplying the bullets from midfield.
All the best from Eski Kanka Jim
The Round Ball in Ankara! Dedicated to football lovers in Ankara (Except for those who follow Osmanlispor)
Any defeat brings disappointment but a 0-1 away to any of the Big 3 not doubt adds extra frustration and a sense of what might have been.Kasimpasa an absolute must win I would say.
ReplyDeleteDublin Neil.
dissapointed to loose a tight game with Besiktas but i thought we matched them well. The only thing im concerned at is we cant play a settled team with so many players. Also the Vassell saga aswell is he injured or not ? Then you have players like Calvin Sosibo, Kagiso Senamela and Murat Yilmaz who havent even kicked a ball apart from the 3 first games that Sosibo played. As dublin Neil said a must win against Kasimpasa at the weekend.
ReplyDeletenadeem
We watched the game from a tea house in Van. No booze to be seen. The crowd was heavily in favor of BJK and found our support of Ankaragücü to be bewildering.
ReplyDeleteThis particular match reminded me of the importance of Serkan and Ceyhun. We would be in serious trouble without them. I'd also echo the praise for our players, especially Meye. Hopefully the team chemistry will come sooner rather than later.
Nadeem, you reminded me of a player who had nearly faded from memory: Sosibo. What the hell happened to him? He looked great at the beginning of the season.
ReplyDeleteI hate Besiktrash
ReplyDeletebattle damaged, yes mate i agree he looked good when i saw him to. Nice left foot and worked hard to. Senamela hasnt even started a game.
ReplyDeletenadeem
I believe the reason is that Hikmet Bey has been put under pressure from the Gokceks to play the 'redundant' Ankaraspor players who came 'aboard'. It's the only explanation when you consider the bright start made by Sosibo.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Henderson was never really given a reasonable chance to show what he can do on match days. The Training Ground is different ! He has now been released.
Perhaps Cecile Kanka has some further information to solve the mystery of the missing South Africans ?!