ANKARAGUCU RELEGATED, BUT ..... WITH PRIDE INTACT

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

The post I dreaded making, but ...............

the Ankaragucu players can hold their heads up after giving their all since the 'leaves fell off the tree'. It is not their fault that Ankaragucu is relegated after 32 years in the top flight. We all know the individuals who must shoulder the blame and responsibility !

Ankaragucu almsot snatched an unlikely victory yesterday, and but for a questionable penalty decision that went against them at a crucial stage of the match, may well have done. I'm sure that when the referee, Huseyin Sabanci, watches a replay of the incident he will agree with me. However, referees make mistakes the same as anyone else and it is now 'water under the bridge'.

Karabukspor 3 Ankaragucu 2

Team -

Bayram, Mehmet, Gurkan, Umit, Ishak, Orhan, Mert, Bilal, Veli, Kaan and Atilla

Substitutes - Serol, Gokhan and Sinan

We met up in The Chopin to watch the match - Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Kaleci Kanka Tansu, No Name Kanka Simon and yours truly. Oh yes, and not forgetting our '5th Man', a bottle of The Macallan (courtesy of Damon) which was consumed with relish after the match to 'drown our sorrows' !

It was pretty much end-to-end footie with both teams playing all out attack. Having said that, Karabuk was looking the more dangerous for the first 20 minutes with Shelton, in particular, and Mehmet Yildiz combining well up front. However, the Ankaragucu defence for once looked well organised yesterday and was coping admirably with all that Karabuk could fire at them.

Then in the 20th minute, Serol took the ball on a run along the left touchline to almost the goal line, looked up, and sent in a high ball over Tomic in goal. The ball hit the post and took a deflection 'the right way' to cross the line with Tomic spinning around in a circle trying to locate the ball ! At first I thought it was a cross, but having seen the replay, there were no Ankaragucu players in the box and I believe Serol scored what can only be described as an opportunist goal.

Karabuk stepped up the pressure and it was Man of the Match Bayram who kept Ankaragucu in front with some excellent and timely saves.

We were 2 minutes into time added on when from a Karabuk free kick into the box the equaliser arrived. It was a lucky goal in a goal mouth melee with about four players all trying to kick the ball, but Jahic managed to get a foot to the ball and toe poked it in for a real sickener of a goal.

Into the 2nd half and Bayram again made some great saves until 'that incident' arrived on 65 minutes. Can't remember who the defender was, but for me he made a clean tackle in the box and won the ball, but the Karabuk attacker fell over his leg and Mr Sabanci pointed to the spot. Sometimes decisions go against you and this was one such case.

The penalty was well taken by Cernat who hesitated briefly on his run up as he was about to strike the ball and Bayram was wrong-footed.

One minute later the Ankaragucu equaliser arrived thanks to a great run by Atilla who took a great pass in his stride and fired the ball into the corner with Tomic well beaten. Simon said ...... 'Ankaragucu was spurred on by injustice' ! Great comment !

At 2-2 I suppose we could accept that it was a fair reflection of play even if Karabuk had the lion's share of the possession (59 to 41). However, the next crucial event in the match, which probably was significant, arrived in the 70th minute when Veli was given a red card (two yellows) for pulling a player back by his shirt.

6 minutes later and the extra man paid off for Karabuk when Jahic was allowed acres of space in the box to head in unmarked for the winner. What a sickener, but having said that, terrible defending by an otherwise good defensive display by Ankaragucu.

Ankaragucu didn't give up and kept up the pressure, but it was not to be.

As I said, a really great team performance from the Youth Team and they can at least be proud that they gave their all. Don't be surprised if this team pull out a victory or two before the end of the season now that the pressure is off.

Next Saturday Ankaragucu will be at home to Eskisehir and probably at 1pm KO. I'll confirm this in the comments section as usual later.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim