It's was a turgid, lacklustre performance from Ankaragucu as they scraped a 1-0 win with a moment of brilliance from Erhan Senturk. Ismet Tasdemir went with the same side who won 2-0 at Tokatspor last week.
Team - Emrah Tuncel, Serkan Balci, Alihan Kubalas, Cenk Kaplan, Mehmet Tasci, Muhammed Gonulacar, Harun Aydin, Ferhat Culcoglu, Omer Bozan, Erhan Senturk, Enes Kubat
Subs - Emre Koyuncu, Sezgin Coskun, Muharrem Ozan, Mustafa Ozturk, Orhan Gulle, Onur Bayramoglu, Onur Atasayer
Today's match was the 4th of a five match stadium ban for Ankaragucu. There were a handful of Nigde fans in the away end who backed their team for the 90 minutes.
The first half was a bore fest with Ankaragucu really struggling to muster up any attacks or even pass the ball. Enes looked a lonely figure up front and was getting no support from the midfield. Nigde were causing problems down the right hand side wth Mehmet Tasci struggling to keep their attack at bay.
The only real chance of the half for Ankaragucu was a cross into the box from Erhan Senturk for Alihan who headed the ball stright at the keeper. It must also be noted that the Ankaragucu defence and midfield were very slack in possession today and a better side would have punished them. Nigde also had a good chance just before half time from a free kick but Emrah made an excellent save to keep it 0-0.
Into the second half and it was much the same, Nigde looked dangerous and had a couple of good efforts that went close. Nigde almost went ahead after 50 minutes. Sloppy play from the Ankaragucu defence lead to a chance for the visitors, a shot from just outside the box went inches wide.
The turning point of the match came after 64 minutes. Gokhan Özer was sent off for Nigde for what looked like an off the all incident. It took Ankaragucu only 3 minutes to take advantage and what a goal it was. Erhan gathered the ball on the right before beating 3 defenders and firing an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner. 1-0 Ankaragucu.
Ankaragucu had 3 good chances to finish the game off from counter attacks, but the finishing from the forwards Enes and Erhan were woefully bad and they made a mess of it. Enes then went past his man before shooting straight at the keeper. It looked like he may have pulled a muscle as he went down injured and was replaced with Muharrem Ozan.
Ankaragucu held on despite a late onslaught from the visitors to claim all 3 points. There's no doubting Ankaragucu need to up their game if they want to compete for the title. They now lie 2nd after Gumushanespor moved top on goal difference as they beat Hatayspor 3-0 away from home.
Next up is an away match at Sariyer next weekend which will be another tough game for Ankaragucu.
Lig 2 Scores
Hatayspor 0-3 Gumushanespor
Tuzlaspor 1-1 Sariyer
Polatli 4-2 Eyupspor
Kastamonuspor 1-3 1461 Trabzon
Kayseri Erciyesspor 1-1 Tokatspor
Aydinspor 1-1 Inegolspor
Kirklarelispor 0-1 Karsiyaka
Menemen 1-1 Etimesgut
I was out-and-about today and had to rely on Maniac Kanka Harun to keep me updated and it was nail biting stuff even for me. I had trouble digesting my Iskender Kebab during the first half of the match !!!
ReplyDeleteWell done to Erhan for a truly excellent piece of skill which I have watched on a replay.
However, as Nadeem quite rightly says, next week's opponents, Sariyer, are no mugs and Ankaragucu will be fortunate to exit Istanbul with one point farless three !!
Let's hope that the injury to Enes is minor, because like it or not, he is our key player this season !