ANKARAGUCU WIN HIGH FLYING, HIGH SCORING, EXCITING MATCH IN THE ANKARA FOG !!!

ANKARAGUCU   19          Hatayspor    14

Greeting Kankas and Kankies.

This was the type of Headline used by he now defunct News of the World to attract punters to their newspaper.   My question is ......... did it work for me ?    Oh, errrrrmmmm ...... I don’t mean the phone hacking, I mean as ‘an attention getter’ ?!!

OK, enough bullshit.   Now to the boring stuff ............

ANKARAGUCU   0     Hatayspor    0

The High Flying refers to the number of hoofs out of defence to nowhere by both teams.   The High Scoring is high on my ‘wish list’.   Exciting is obviously sarcasm which I will mention further later in this report.   The Fog refers to what it seemed like the players were playing in on a clear, cool, Septermber evening in perfect football conditions.

We welcomed a new kanka to our group yesterday.   Tony joins us from Weegieland (sometimes referred to as Glasgow) and I’m sure he will become a regular if there are more ‘exciting’ games like this one !!

Also, there were Naaarich Kankie Lucy, Cider Kanka John and your headline grabbing reporter.

Another disappointing turnout with Gecikondu three quarters full, Maraton only a quarter full and about 50 brave souls in the away end.

With Levent back in the starting line-up alongside Umut we were full of expectation, however, it proved to be a false dawn – perhaps he is not yet 100% fit, or perhaps we are expecting too many miracles from him ?!

To be fair, both teams came out of the traps in attacking mode but the match slowly petered out into a yawn with only a header from Umut past the post on the 22^nd minute mark and a shot on goal near half time from our No30 which went past.

My comment at half time was ..... an easily forgettable 1^st half, but thankfully Gecikondu was there to entertain us !

The 2^nd half was also one big yawn, but we were awoken from our slumber and yawning on 4 occasions.

On the 60^th minute, a Hatay attacker was clean through in the box but a timely tackle came in to save the situation.   15 minutes later Hatay’s tall No9 missed a great chance when his header sailed over when it looked easier to score.   Hatay should have sealed the points 2 minutes from the end when a header was sent over the bar from a great postion.

The only time Ankaragucu came close was on the 81^st minute mark when a great goal bound shot was acrobatically saved by Hatay’s goalkeeper.

Turning to the sarcasm mentioned earlier, and with 5 minutes to go, Gecikondu and Maraton began sarcastically applauding every touch of the ball by Ankaragucu players.   It’s the first time I’ve witnessed this and it was something I hope we will not see again !

Then with 1 minute to go the main talking point of the match.   Apparently, Mehmet Yigner (Chairman of Ankaragucu) had criticised a section of the Ankaragucu supporters last week by calling them ‘idiots’.   So, Gecikondu and Maraton took their revenge and loudly shouted ‘idiots’ to the Directors sitting in Protocol.   We may hear more of this in the coming weeks, but not a good sign for the Club on top of all the other problems we have had to endure over the past 2 years.

A hasty retreat was made back to The Chopin Bar where at least we were cheered with the sight of newly promoted Balikesir beating Galatasaray 2-0 ..... ho ho ho hee hee hee !

What next ?   Hmmmm ...... a difficult away match against Altay beckons next weekend.   Will Ankaragucu lose their unbeaten record or will they go for 4 draws in a row ?    The excitment is hard to suppress !!!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim