Greetings Kankas
and Kankies.
Smiles were in
short supply last night hence no smiley photos with this report !
Well, to be
honest we did manage a smile on two occasions.
Firstly, when El-Kabir scored a well deserved goal after previous
attempts were thwarted, and secondly, when Battle Damaged Kanka Damon returned
from the toilet to report he had witnessed my modification to one of the
cartoons above the urinals !!! Check
it out when you can !
ANKARAGUCU 1
Besiktas 4
Team – Korcan,
Erdem, Alihan, Yalcin, Pinto, Faty, Djedje, Kenan, El-Kabir, Bifouma and
Kubilay
Substitutes used
– Moulin and Cerci
Before I talk
about the match, I would just like to say that it’s frustrating sometimes being
a supporter of Turkish football. With
the new Eryaman Stadium still unfinished, last night’s match was scheduled for
the Osmanli Stadium in Yenikent which Ankaragucu and Genclerbirligi have been
using since 19 Mayis Stadium has been demolished.
Then on Thursday
or Friday last week, Besiktas complained to the TFF that the playing surface
was not to their liking and requested an alternative venue. Of course, the TFF willingly obliged, and
why not ?! After all, anything to put
the sword into Ankaragucu – as we know, no love lost there !!
So, the TFF in ‘their
wisdom’ nominated Kayseri Stadium as Ankaragucu’s home match venue. A classic TFF decision !! We all know that Osmanli Stadium doesn’t
have the lush GREEN grass of Easter Road Stadium in Edinburgh, but it’s the
same playing surface for BOTH teams.
Aaaaaargh !!!
That was a
typical Oz Kanka Chris rant, and one I hope he will be proud of ??!!
Anyway, back to
the match in question, and Battle Damaged Kanka, Kaleci Kanka Tansu and I met
up at The Anasson Bar full of optimism and the place was packed with mainly
Ankaragucu supporters.
There were
thousands of Ankaragucu supporters in the stadium on two sides with BJK
supporters squeezed in at one end. And
.......... it took only 4 minutes into the match for the Ankaragucu supporters
to make their presence felt when they threw ‘missiles’ from behind the goal at
Karius the BJK goalkeeper which halted the match for a few minutes until order
was restored !
On the restart
Kenan almost scored when he latched onto a Bifouma cross but Karius saved well.
However, it was
ominous at this early stage that BJK was looking dangerous and they almost went
ahead in the 11th minute from a free kick outside the box on the
right, but the effort hit the bar and was cleared.
5 minutes later
and they did have the ball in the net but the referee obviously had a message
from the linesman in his earphone and he called for a video replay. The goal was chalked off and we still don’t
know the reason. Could have been an
offside or an infringement off the ball ?
It only took a
further 6 minutes for BJK to find the first goal and it was all down to the
Ankaragucu defence being all at sea.
They will not relish the thought of Ismail Bey showing that next week in
a video replay !!! The BJK attackers
were toying with the Ankaragucu defence playing tip-tap in the penalty area and
the final ball was rifled in by Ljajic to give Korcan no chance.
BJK were rampant
and giving Ankaragucu no time on the ball.
They were chasing everything and looking like a team on fire. It was no surprise therefore when No2
arrived 4 minutes later and it was a peach of a goal.
A fast break
down the right wing to the goal line, the classic cut-back which was
back-heeled to the far post where Mustafa was lurking unmarked and he stroked
it in with Korcan protecting his near post.
It was then time
for the Ankaragucu supporters behind the goal to fire more ‘missiles’ at Karius
and play was again held up for 3 minutes until order was restored !
Ankaragucu
refused to throw the towel in and had two efforts on goal by El-Kabir which on
any other day might have gone in. Both
goalbound efforts were saved by Karius for corners but the corners were wasted
with poorly taken balls going straight to BJK defenders on the near post.
Two minutes from
the break and the killer goal which again was a defensive howler. The normally reliable Faty gave away a
simple ball under no pressure and Guven had the benefit of the ball breaking in
his favour to bear down on Korcan and calmly chip the ball over him for No3.
So, a
catastrophic half with the defence all over the place and giving away too many
free kicks, playing too many panic long balls out of defence and allowing BJK
to totally control the match.
Cerci came out for
the 2nd half in place of Kenan.
The 2nd
half was only 7 minutes old when the Ankaragucu supporters near the corner flag
decided to send more ‘missiles’ towards the BJK player attempting to take a
corner kick. This is surely going to
entail a stadium ban for Ankaragucu.
Of course there is no excuse for throwing ‘missiles’ at players or
coaching staff and we all know how the TFF takes delight in handing out
punishments, especially to Ankaragucu !!!
So, I will be very surprised if the TFF don’t take action after studying
the referee’s report.
At this stage of
the match, BJK was stroking the ball around and making Ankaragucu make more
mistakes and also making Ankaragucu concede yet more free kicks.
Then, against
the run of play, Ankaragucu scored in the 60th minute when Pinto
sent a great ball through to Djedje who evaded the chasing defenders and shot
over the despairing dive of Karius.
However, celebrations were cut short when the video replay showed that
Pinto had commited a foul before releasing Djedje.
El-Kabir had a
chance 10 minutes later, but his looping header went just past the post with
Karius beaten.
15 minutes to go
and Korcan pulled off a reflex save to deny BJK and then El-Kabir had another
header which went just over.
4 minutes to the
final whistle and Ankaragucu conjured up a consolation goal thanks to some
stubborn play from Cerci digging the ball out from a 50/50 situation with a
defender. He sent a peach of a pass to
El-Kabir who angled his shot past Karius and in. It
was no more than El-Kabir deserved after his perseverance throughout the match.
Into the dying
minutes of the match and BJK thrust the sword in deeper. Another classic cut-back on the left to the
unmarked Oguzhan who had the simple task of stroking the ball in with Korcan
helpless.
Ankaragucu
received a salutary football lesson and Ismail Bey has now a headache in trying
to solve the defence problem. He only
has a few days to do it with the away match against bottom club Rize looming on
Friday night KO 8pm.
As BJK proved
last night, league positions should not be taken at face value. There will be no ‘easy’ matches to come
this season. Let’s hope Ankaragucu can
return from the Black Sea with 3 points to restore confidence.
All the best
from Eski Kanka Jim
No need to talk what has happened last week in TFF including the referee and the change of stadium a day before the match. We are all familiar such things in Turkey But I have to mention that " other than El Kaber, in Ankaragücü there were nobody who had any belief to win the match yesterday. Lets look to Rize mmatch. Volkan.
ReplyDeleteWell said Volkan. However, I would mention that Djedje also put himself about and did his best, but as you quite rightly say ......... it takes more than 2 players to make a TEAM !
ReplyDeleteRize may be bottom, but they have a solid defence, so if we want to return with all 3 points then the team must be firing on ALL cylinders.
Are you listening Ismail Bey ??!!