ANKARAGUCU - ANOTHER LEAF FALLS OFF THE TREE !!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

I had to change my headline after receiving a text message this afternoon that Ziya Dogan has resigned from the Club (and who can blame him ?!). No doubt we will hear more about that from you all in the comments section, but for now ............... back to yesterday's match.

With the halfway point of the season rapidly approaching, Ankaragucu are doing themselves no favours by slipping further behind in the relegation zone. It is now at the critical point with the crucial relegation fixture against Antep scheduled for next Saturday. If Antep win it I think we can start looking out our map for places such as Tavsanli, Giresun and Gungoren !!

Ankaragucu had a golden opportunity to put some points on the board yesterday, but in the end, ended up with nothing. There were 3 chances for Ankaragucu to take the lead in the opening quarter of the match, but from that point onwards it was all downhill for Ankaragucu.

Antalyaspor 1 Ankaragucu 0

Team -

Ozden
Kagan, Aydin, Ishak and Mehmet
Weeks, Hurriyet and Gokhan
Serdar and Murat
Keles

Substitutes used - Guven, Muhammed and Atilla

Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Cider Kanka John, Simon and I met up at The Chopin to watch the match but we were not 'happy bunnies' at the end.

Ankaragucu looked not too bad in the opening period and it was 15 minutes before Ozden was called upon to make a save. At this point, Antalya came into the match and took control. Their passing and running off the ball was impressive and they always seemed to be a split second into the tackle before Ankaragucu. Why it took so long for Antalya to open the scoring was really down to 3 glaring misses by Necati, which on any other day would have gone in.

As I said, Ankaragucu had only 3 chances in the match. The 1st came in the 2nd minute when (I think it was Keles) was put through but for some reason he delayed his shot and was dispossessed. Shortly after, Serdar had 2 good chances. The 1st was deflected by a defender and the 2nd went just past the post.

From that point, it was all Antalya and but for some heroics from Ozden and some howlers from Necati, it could have been a rout.

Ozden saved from Tita, who was a constant menace to the Ankaragucu defence throughout. Ishak made a timely tackle as Tita was lining up to shoot, and then just before the break, the unmarked Necati missed a sitter in front of goal when he 'skyed' the ball over with the goal at his mercy.

The 2nd half was mostly one way traffic towards Ozden with the Ankaragucu defence all over the place and hacking the ball anywhere when Antalya came calling on Ozden !

Halfway through the 2nd half and again Necati missed 2 easy chances. The 1st when he shot direct at Ozden when it would have been easier to angle his shot. The 2nd was a good headed effort but Ozden, who was off-balance and wrong-footed, managed to stick a foot out and deflect his goal bound header for a corner. A few minutes later, Tandogan sent his header just past the post.

With 10 minutes to go, I was wondering if the Ankaragucu defence could withstand the final onslaught, and the answer was .............. NO !

Yet another Antalya attack down the right wing and the cutback came in to the unmarked Zitouni who made no mistake with Ozden helpless. A real sickner after a backs-to-the-wall performance by the Ankaragucu defence, but in all honesty it was no more than Antalya deserved.

Antalya was streets ahead of Ankaragucu in all departments and there can be no complaints with them taking all 3 points.

So to next Saturday and the nerve ends will be jangling when Antep come calling. In previous seasons we would expect to pick up 3 easy points from this match, but not anymore. The boot is on the other foot now !

It will probably be an afternoon KO again but I'll post it in the comments section as usual when I have confirmation.

If Ankaragucu doesn't take the 3 points from this match, the burning question is ................ where do they go from here ? With a visit to Kayseri the following week, it is probably not the fixture a bottom of the league team would care to choose !!

All doom and gloom in this part of Ankara !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim