Handbags and the derby

Both Genclerbirligi and Ankaragucu fans ought to get used to watching the sort of football we saw last night. It was second division stuff and if I had to put money on two of the teams to be relegated at the end of the season, I'd put it on both the Ankara teams.

Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Ankaragucu

Derby Day! The day everyone has been waiting for. A chance to rib each other over a beer and swear at each other at the stadium. Well, it would have been if any of the Ankaragucu kankas had shown up. Where were you all? Just a couple of us Gencler fans then - me, Spine and Flying Dutchman.

Pretty crap turnout at the stadium as well. We guessed maybe four to five thousand all up. Ankaragucu had a semi-decent contingent in the away area whereas Gencler had only a couple of thousand in Maraton and no one at all in Gecikondu. I'm thinking that it isn't only us here at "The round ball in Ankara" who are depressed.

Smile for the camera cause there's bugger all else to smile about

Gencler came on in the traditional red and black strip while Ankaragucu were wearing a uniform which Spine described as "I guess they are trying to get sponsorship from Ikea".

Oh well, kick-off and erggh. Rubbish from both sides. Both Gencler and Gucu had chances but they were stuffed up. Ankaragucu were playing fairly tough and I was surprised that ref didn't hand out a few cards in the first half, especially when Zec was brought down just outside the box in the 22nd minute just before he got a shot in.

The ref gave the free kick though and Soner managed to score thanks to a hefty deflection from a Gucu defender.

The Gencler fans celebrated of course but the match stayed boring. Crap passing and whatnot and it was at this stage that we at least had something half-interesting to watch as various Gucu fans in our section started swearing at us. There was a bit of push and shove, nothing much though. Still, why on earth do Ankaragucu fans sit in the Gencler section and then get upset when we celebrate getting a goal?

The police took ages but eventually escorted them all out of our section. Spine took advantage of the police being distracted and decided to light up a fag.

I read an interesting stat today that there were 411 police and 300 private security guards at the match, or about one security person for every six fans or so. Overkill?

Ankaragucu woke up a little after the goal and had a couple of chances but managed to send most of them out and so Gencler went into half time 1-0. Only one player had impressed me at this stage and that was Gucu's Tonia Tisdall. All he needed was some gold around his neck and he'd have been a dead ringer for Mr. T. (I'm referring to his haircut, not his size)

Second half and we actually got some half-decent football from Gencler. Hursut was doing his tricky stuff and new boy Ozgur Ileri was playing well. There were at least two occassions when we should have scored but Zec had one saved and Soner failed to get his good chance on goal. About 20 minutes in and Gencler should have been two or three up but none of the dominance was coverted.

Ankaragucu at this stage started playing hard and the referee finally decided to use the cards in his pocket. Some of them were a bit dodgy and I think he may have been compensating for his failure to dish them out in the first half.

Gencler started time wasting and what a stupid move that turned out to be. Just near the end Ankaragucu got a free kick and at the same time one of their players (Serdar) got a second yellow. The free kick was taken and Gencler's keeper Ozkan failed to control it. The ball sort of bobbled around in the box and the defenders failed to clear leaving Rajnoch with an easy shot and goal.

And that was that.

"Sweden are crap," Spine said.

Yet again the police decided to allow the away fans out first leaving us to cheer on the cleaners. Not only is this not the way it is supposed to be done but from a security point of view it is a complete waste of time. By the time we got out the Ankaragucu fans had taken the long walk around the block so that we were all together. Nothing happened but what if both sets of fans were up for it. Stupid.

If you are going to get locked in after the match you might as well do something useful.