ANKARAGUCU - THE ZOOKEEPER OF THE ISTANBUL ZOO ..... OR ..... EASETANBUL !!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Headline courtesay of Maniac Kanka Harun !

Ankaragucu welcomed Eski Kanka back to Buyuk Baskent last night in the best possible way, ie, with a victoreeeeeeeeee.

ANKARAGUCU 1 Besiktas 0

Team -

Bora
Rajnoch, Zewlakow, Adem and Murat
Adem, Aydin, Gabric and Sapara
Sestak and Serdar

Substitutes - Ozgur, Orhan and Dogan

Maniac Kanka, Battle Damaged Kanka Damon and I met up in the Beer Bus Bar and were joined by Gencler Orcan and BJK Serkan. The Beer Bus Bar was full of Ankargucu supporters so we didn't really miss the Stadium too much and we were soon up singing, dancing and hi-fiving !

Only one minute into the match and Ankaragucu broke down the right. Gabric took a pass, carried the ball down to near the goal line, looked up, and crossed a perfect ball in to the unmarked Serdar lurking at the far post. He took it on the volley, swivelled and sent the ball high into the net with Hakan helpless.

What a start ! Can we make it 3 out of 3 agtainst that Istanbul lot I was thinking ?

7 minutes in and it was almost two. Hakan blocked the first effort by Sestak and Serdar fumbled the rebound.

Ankaragucu was looking good at this point and spreading the ball around with panache as they normally do when playing the Istanbul lot.

20 minutes in and Sapara sent in a swerving shot which Hakan did well to save.

At this point in the match, Besiktas was beginning to look dangerous on the break but the Ankaragucu defence was holding firm and looking fairly comfortable.

Gabric almost scored before the half time whistle but was a second too late in connecting with a great pass from Sapara.

A fast and furious first half with both teams on full-out attack. Could they maintain this pace I wondered ?

Into the 2nd half then and the pace didn't slacken. Besiktas was stepping up the pressure but Bora was in fine form denying Besiktas in the opening 10 minutes with two great saves.

60 minutes in and it was all Besiktas now with the Ankaragucu defence under increasing pressure, but dealing with all that was thrown at them.

However, Ankaragucu was making occasional forays into the Besiktas half and Serdar almost scored on 61 minutes but fired into the side netting with Hakan struggling to cover it.

10 minutes later Sapara tried a speculative lob which just went over.

With 15 minutes remaining it was becoming tense in the Ankaragucu defence with Besiktas searching in vain for the equaliser.

In the final 10 minutes Bora proved the saviour making 3 further outstanding saves.

Besiktas appealed for a penalty near the end, but the replay showed that the referee was correct in waving the appeals away.

Maniac's Man of the Match was Adem. However, Battle Damaged and I gave it to Bora for his outstanding second half performance. We should also mention Serdar, who played his best match of the season for Ankaragucu.

So, a great win for Ankaragucu to complete 'the treble', but the question has to be asked .... why can't Ankaragucu play like this EVERY week ?!

It's not the first time I've asked this question on the blog and probably won't be the last ! Consistency is the key, but how to get that message across to the team ???!!!

Let's see if Ankaragucu can confound the critics (and me) next Saturday when they visit bottom club Kasimpasa !!

Probably watching that match in the Beer Bus Bar. I'll give the KO time when known.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim