Genclerbirligi fight hard to no avail

Oh for the days when I condemned the draw. Genclerbirligi lost for the first time this season, but probably deserved a draw.

Genclerbirligi 0 - 1 Galatasaray

Just a couple of us down at the Alerta Pub for pre-match drinks, Alex, Jimmy, Little Oz and me, but at the stadium we ended up with 10 more new and old Kankas! Possibly our biggest turnout in years.

The view of the Galatasaray stands from where we were sitting. 

Not just us either. Galatasaray filled their behind the goals away section (Saatli) as well as their Kapali part. Us Gencler fans pretty much filled Maraton... In the old days for a match like this we would fill Gecekondu as well... but those days are long gone.

Lots of great enthusiasm as the game kicked off and both teams looked to play fast football. It was looking good too when Gencler went on the attack in the 10th minute only to stupidly lose it. Cim Bom launched a counter attack and after all sorts of comicly inept defending the ball was in the back of the net. Oh dear.

Down 0-1 after just 10 minutes could have signalled a rout. Fortunately Gencler decided to try and get back into it. Towards the end of the first half and for most of the second half they played their best football of the year. There were moans of frustration when shots and headers went just wide or were saved but there were no moans like those of the last few weeks when the Gencler fans started to get angry at some rather lacklustre play.

A draw should have been the result but Gencler were unlucky. We had a goal scored off a free kick ruled offside and the referee was annoying. Still it was a good match to watch and I'm sure some of the new kankas, for a couple of the kids it was their first ever football match, will be back.