Ankaragucu travel to Bolu tomorrow to take on Boluspor in the Turkish PTT Lig. It is difficult to tell if Wednesdays match at Besiktas will spur Ankaragucu on or weather it has dented the players confidence after going so close to causing a big upset in Istanbul. The match between Ankaragucu and Boluspor has an interesting history dating back to 1981.
Both sides met each other that year in the Turkish Cup final which Ankaragucu won 2-1, Turkish President Kenan Evran and Ankara Mayor Mustafa Gonul decided the Turkish Cup winners would win promotion to the Turkish Super Lig. Fans of Boluspor were angered at this and believed that the match was fixed in order to make sure Ankaragucu won promotion. Ankaragucu remained in the Super Lig until last season.
Boluspor are sitting mid table at the moment and are still in with a chance of a play off place, but could also be dragged into the relegation battle. They have enough quality in their side including Serge Dijehoua, Akeem Agbetu, Iskander Alin and former Ankaragucu goalkeeper Serdar Kulbilge. The later signed for Ankaragucu last summer from Genclerbirligi but didn't play a single game due to his alleged involvement in match fixing during his time at Gencler.
If the home side play to their full potential they could prove to be to strong for Ankaragucu with the quality they have in their squad. A good 3-1 win at Sanliurfaspor last week will give them some confidence in what has been a start stop season so far.
Ankaragucu can take confidence from their performance mid week during Besiktas, and if they play to that same level there is no reason why they cant return to Ankara with the three points. Timur Ozgoz, Umit Kurt and Kaan Kanak are all in excellent form and will be again called upon for their big performances.
History has been good to Ankaragucu in this fixture as the picture above shows when winning the cup, lets hope tomorrow it repeats itself with 3 points.
It will be a difficult game but I think if Ankaragucu can play like they did against Besiktas they have a great chance. I just get the feeling that in the cup Ankaragucu felt like they had nothing to lose and were not playing tensely which helped them put in a good performance so far in the league the team has not played loose football which in my opinion they will have to play in order to have any chance of avoiding the drop
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with the above comments, If Ankaragucu can go into the league games and loosen up and play like we did against Besiktas we can still stay up.
ReplyDeleteSome news just in, Bayram is injured and will not play in todays game and Mert is suspended. A big blow to loose both players. Young Gokhan Akkan will start in goal and possibly a return to the team for Serkan.