It was a great day for Ankara football yesterday with wins for Ankaragucu, Ankara Demirspor, Genclerbirligi and Keciorengucu. Sadly there wasn't a happy outcome for Osmanlispor as our friends from Gencler beat them 1-0 to make it a good day all around.
Ankaragucu came back from Sivas with all 3 points and they were made to work for their win but got there in the end thanks to goals from Timur Kosovali and Sertan Vardar.
Team - Ferhat Odabasi, Goksu Alhas, Murat Sozgelmez, Sedat Bayrak, Mehmet Tasci, Salih Sefercik, Omer Bozan, Sertan Vardar, Hasan Ayaroglu, Timur Kosovali, Mehmet Yildiz
Subs - Turgut Kirveli, Orhan Evci, Volkan Geyik, Muhammed Gonalacar, Harun Aydin, Enes Kubat, Emrah Bozkurt,
Firstly after the match the Ankaragucu board thanked the Sivas board for their hospitality towards Ankaragucu fans as they moved them into the home stand which was covered after it started raining. Its nice to see there are still a good number of clubs in Turkey that can show this kind of hospitality towards their opponents.
Ankaragucu started the match without key players Sedat Bayrak and Mustafa Ozturk through injury and Gurkan Alver through suspension. The new coach put out a fairly attacking team with 2 strikers and an attacking midfield.
The first half was a bore fest with nothing much happening from both sides, Sivas arguably passed the ball better and Ankaragucu were finding it difficult to keep the ball. Sertan Vardar went closest with a free kick which was well saved by Serkan Demirol in the Sivas goal.
Into the second half and Ankaragucu started to look the better team and the experience of Salih Sefercik, Sertan Vardar and Mehmet Yildiz started to show with the trio the best players on the park. Special mention has to go to my man of the match Mehmet Yildiz though for an excellent shift he put in and barring a bit of luck could have scored a hat trick.
The first goal came on the 52nd minute after a good cross from the left came into the Sivas box, Mehmet Yildiz controlled the ball before his shot on goal was cleared off the line, the ball found its way to the lurking Timur Kosovali who had the easy task of putting the ball into the empty net to make it 1-0 Ankaragucu.
A couple of minutes later it should have been 2-0, as another ball from the left from Sertan found its way to the outstretched Timur whose weak shot was saved by Serkan. There were a couple of half chances for Salih and Hasan who both shot over the bar after some nice build up play.
That man Mehmet Yildiz almost got on the score sheet after he showed nice footwork in the box to create space for his shot, he fired it into the bottom corner but the ball came back off the post much to the dismay of Mehmet who was thinking what did he need to do to get that goal.
He went even closer a few minutes later after rounding Serkan in the Sivas goal before firing his shot on goal but the Sivas defender got back to clear it off the line again. You could see that Mehmet Yildiz was growing frustrated that he couldn't get that goal, but the Ankaragucu fans were singing his name as he continued to work so hard for the teams cause.
With time almost up Ankaragucu scored that all important 2nd goal to finish off Sivas who were looking dangerous in attack as the pushed for the equaliser. From a counter attack the ball found its way to Mehmet Yildiz on the half way line, he turned his man before playing an excellent through ball to Emrah Bozkurt, he in turn played the ball across to Sertan Vardar who controlled the ball before blasting the ball past Serkan to make it 2-0 and send the Ankaragucu fans home happy with the 3 points.
A decent performance from Ankaragucu especially in the second half. They got the all important clean sheet and never looked under any pressure at the back. If this team is to be title contenders they do need to learn how to look after the ball, pass better and take their chances.
Next week the team are at home to struggling Kartalspor before travelling to Bucaspor for the rearranged game. These are 2 of the easier games and the team should be taking 6 points from those games. I will be back midweek with the preview of next weekends game at home to Kartalspor.
Excellent report from Bellshill Kanka Nadeem.
ReplyDeleteLiked the bit about moving the Ankaragucu supporters out of the rain. Well done Sivas, and we will remember your hospitality when you visit Ankara in the 2nd half of the season.
Good to see something positive said about Mehmet Bey. I know I have been critical of him recently, but there is no doubting his effort. I'm sure he'll break his duck this weekend in front of the home fans. We are all willing him to do it !!!
Bring it on.