Cold and distracted as Gencler draw with Antep

In the end a draw was probably the right result. just annoying that Gencler failed to score a winner. Off the field, there was a bit of excitement when someone in the stands unfurled a MHP banner. The silly boy was promptly beaten up by the Gencler fans and had to be rescued by the security guards.

Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Gaziantepspor

The weather didn't seem so bad when I left home but by the time Justin Paul and myself joined Ambo Kanka Peter and his son Patrick it had changed big time. It was bloody cold. The rain was coming down to annoy the players but for us under the stadium roof it was a biting wind that it was taken me some six hours to thaw out my fingers in order to write this report.

The pitch was crap and very waterlogged in places but Gencler started very nicely indeed. We were making good moves done the flanks and were creating chances, one of which was converted in the 18th minute when Burhan sent a ball in to Sandro who somehow managed to get it past the keeper. I'm not exactly sure what happened but will hopefully have a youtube clip up soon.

The rest of the first half Gencler seemed to be attempting to find another goal but didn't really look as if they were in top form.

The second half though saw us have a number of chances but none which would be put away. Kahe seemed as if Aylin is back as the Gencler dietician. In fact Ambo Kanka made the point after the match that at times Gencler seem to be the slowest team in Turkey. I'd have to agree, we do some good stuff in midfield but so often we slow it down as if to allow the opposition defenders to get back.

It wasn't just that though, our pssing today was pretty woeful as well. Although I guess some of the blame for that can be attributed to the waterlogged pitch.

It was about half-way through the second half when Antep got the equaliser. No one to blame really. Well, at least I don't think so. As I said before, I'll put up a video as soon as one becomes available. In the meantime I'm off to soak my toes in some warm water in an attempt to get some feeling back into them.