ANKARAGUCU - MATCH ABANDONED UNDER A HAIL OF GOALS AND ..... PLASTIC MISSILES !

All images taken from NTV Spor

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Ankaragucu   0      Konyaspor    3   (Match Abandoned after 40 minutes).

Battle Damaged Kanka Damon and I arrived in the Stadium tonight to a serenade of all the popular songs from Gecekondu and the the others.   A good atmosphere and lots of smiley faces ........ at least for now !!

Gecekondu was almost full and in high voice volume, Sol Kapali was full and Maraton was half full and all were adding to the volume.

Ankaragucu began the match in attacking mode and could easily have scored 2 goals in the first 5 minutes but for some poor finishing and good defending.

15 minutes in and, having settled, Konya were looking the most likely team to unlock the stalemate.   Bayram was being called into action more and having to look lively to cover all the shots raining in on him.

The inevitable came in the 24th minute from a great sweeping move from Konya down the left wing.   The cross came in to the far post from No 11 and it was headed down to the Konya attacker lurking just outside the penalty box and he fired in a great shot to the corner with Bayram deceived and rooted to the spot.

Ankaragucu tried to respond but Konya in all honesty were having none of it.   The 2nd duly arrived after the half hour mark from a free kick just outside the box.   It was obviously a rehearsed move when the excellent No 11 (don't know his name, but he was defo my Man of the Match) received a tap kick and fired in a fantastic shot to the left corner giving Bayram no chance.

5 minutes later it was 3 when that No 11 (again) went flying down the left wing and into the penalty box he went to be confronted by two defenders scurrying back.   He was tackled, but went down and ............ surprise surprise ........ the referee blew for a penalty.   No way !!!    If you trip over your own feet does that mean it is a penalty ??!!    I've said it before, and I'll say it again .......... referees need to be 100% sure that it is a penalty before they bring the whistle to their mouth.   99% is not .... repeat ...... not .... enough !!!

We were staring into the abyss of defeat at this stage, and in all fairness, there was no complaint from us about the first two goals.   Konya was looking a pretty damn good team !

Then in the 40th minute all Hell broke loose ..................

Some provocative words were uttered from the Konya end (which had about 200 fans) and some sort of insulting banner was raised.   OK, there was never any love lost between the supporters of Konya and Ankaragucu, but at 3-0 the Konya boys should have shown a little bit of restraint and understanding - at least for their own safety !!

This action made one young lad from Gecekondu to scale the fence and run the whole length of the pitch towards the Konya fans (without being apprehended !) to take the Konya fans on by himself.   He almost made it !

It was just the spark that was needed to set Gecekondu off ........... the bangers and chairs came flying down, first in Gecekondu and then Maraton and Sol Kapali joined in.   Ooooops, here we go again we thought.   But, this was just the 'apperitif' !

Gecekondu forced open the gate to the pitch and there was a flood of Gecekondu boys onto the pitch in what was really an invasion.  Hundreds ....... not just a few ........ and ....... in the meantime ....... the chairs, and bits of them shaped like missiles were still raining down on all sides.    It was horrendous.

We looked at each other, and speechless, made our way up to the top of Maraton to avoid the missiles which were flying in all directions.

The Police were powerless to stop it, but at least they did manage to escort all the Konya supporters out of the stadium for their safety before they allowed the Ankaragucu gates to open.

The pitch and peri-track was littered with bits of plastic chairs and eventually after about 15 minutes or so  the pitch was cleared of fans, but the players had all retreated to their dressing rooms.

We decided that the match was abandoned and retreated to The Chopin !!!

What the outcome will be remains to be seen, but there will no doubt be a lengthy Stadium ban in the second half of the season at least.

Mmmmmm ....... supporting Ankaragucu is never dull !!!

Thank God we have a winter break to catch our breath !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim