Gencler wow us again

Wow,wow, wow. Genclerbirligi end the first half of the season in fifth spot. FIFTH SPOT! I was so unconfident at the beginning of the season I would have been happy with fifth last spot. Goals from Yasin, Herve Tum (2) and Ermin Zec near the end had everyone at the Red Lion Club jumping up and down. This was great stuff.

I have to go Christmas shopping with Mrs. Oz Kanka now so I'll finish this report later on. Let me just leave you with the magic score from last night.

Genclerbirligi 4 - 0 Istanbul BBS

There is only one person to blame for why I wasn't at the match... Sir Eski Kanka! He had asked last week if we could play our darts match last night. I didn't realise that the Gencler match would be on at the same time. Oh well.

It was just Little Oz Kanka and myself at the Red Lion Club for the kick-off, slowly but surely though the club started to fill up as news of Gencler's exploits spread throughout the capital.

It was all looking okay at the beginning and then the magic started. Yasin took the ball down the left. Starting from about the half way line he cut back in somewhere near the box and got past a couple of defenders before shooting from outside the box. The Istanbul keeper dived to his right but the shot was just too good. 1-0 up and seven minutes gone.

Even though Istanbul had more of the possession for the whole match they only looked like scoring once or twice. Another great effort from the backs and keeper Ramazan.

As Gencler went on the attack again and again the second came in the 24th minute when Azo sent a ball in to Soner in the box. There was no shot on so Soner did his Whirling Dervish impression and then half shot from an angle. The keeper dived but missed and the ball was probably going to miss when Herve Tum's outstretched leg sent it in. 2-0. Looking good.

Almost half-time and Tum gets his second in what can only be described as weird circumstances. Soner passed it to the edge of the box... The keeper comes out but Azofeifa just manages to get a touch on it to keep it going. Tum was being marked but got off a shot from a fairly acute angle, the keeper was missing and an Istanbul player had too much momentum and was unable to intercept the ball as it slowly rolled over the line. Wow.

Second half and well... I don't think Gencler cared any more. We made a few changes to give some of our fringe players a bit of a run around but the performance was nothing like that in the first half.

Hursut gets past his man. Photo by Sabrican Sarak via the Alkaralar website

The fourth goal came via one of those fringe players, Ermin Zec, who scored after being fed wonderfully by Oktay.

All up this was a great performance and we go into the Christmas break with great hope that we can grab a European spot by the end of the season.

Happy Christmas all from a very happy Oz Kanka.