Greetings Kankas
and Kankies.
No excuses
offered and no excuses necessary after Ankaragucu’s capitulation to an average
Malatya team who took their chances well and showed Ankaragucu that ‘the round
thingie’ must be put between ‘the sticks’ to win a match.
Ankaragucu may
live to rue this opportunity of picking up at least one point in Malatya with
so many difficult matches on the horizon.
Having watched the Basaksehir v Kayseri match last night it will be an
uphill struggle to take any points off Basaksehir.
Yeni
Malatyaspor 3 ANKARAGUCU 1
Team – Altay,
Pazdan, Pinto, Kulusic, Kitsiou, Moke, Sedat, Boyd, Canteros, Sacko and Orgill
Substitutes –
Ilhan, Zaur and Moulin
Maniac Kanka
Harun and I met up at his Tshirtmatic Sport and Bridal Shop and watched the
match in The Anasson Bar full of confidence, especially when we saw the
starting line up. However, with all due
respect to Sedat, it is time to bring in Moulin in his place and give the
captain’s armband back to Altay !
Sedat has proved yet again that he is out of his depth in the Super
League.
After last week’s
‘love-in’ with Bursa, there was very little brotherly love shown in Malatya
with both teams going hammer and tong to score the opening goal.
The first chance
fell to Ankaragucu in the 7th minute when Sacko sent in an inviting
cross to Orgill’s head, but the goalkeeper was a split second ahead and punched
the ball clear.
4 minutes later
Malatya should have opened the scoring when a cross came in from the right and
TWO attackers missed their attempts to connect with the Ankaragucu defence ‘all
at sea’ !
A few minutes later
Pinto (our Jesus Christ lookalike) broke up a promising Malatya attack which
had a goal written all over it. Then straight
from his clearance a fast attack by Ankaragucu and the ball was played to the
unmarked Sedat on the left, but he blasted the ball well over the bar when a
cool head was called for.
2 minutes later
and it was Pinto again who turned provider when he crossed and inch perfect
ball for Orgill, but his header was over the bar.
On the half hour
mark and another sweeping Ankaragucu move fed the ball to Orgill on the left,
but with two support players well positioned in the centre and right he didn’t
look up but made the attempt himself which was well wide of the target.
Approaching half
time and Malatya had another goalbound attempt but a saving diving header from
Pazdan prevented the opener.
So, going in at
half time all square was probably a fair reflection of the play, but Ankaragucu’s
passing was erratic at times and they were also guilty of giving the ball away
too cheaply.
Malatya came out
for the 2nd half the more determined team and after 5 minutes in
Ankaragucu had Altay to thank for making a finger tip save to prevent a shot
(or was it a cross) from creeping in.
However, it only
took two more minutes for Malatya to make the break through when the referee
awarded a dubious penalty when Kulasic was adjudged to have brought an attacker
down in the box. OK, it was HIS
decision, but speaking as an ex-Class 1 referee, the player fell before the
tackle and both players were going for the ball. Also, he really should have looked at the
VAR. Perhaps he would have done so if Malatya
had been the away team ???!!!
5 minutes later
and Ankaragucu made a great show of shooting themselves in the foot with a
schoolboy defensive blunder which would be classed as a ‘comedy show’ by Malatya
supporters. A Malatya attacker received
the ball in the box, and surrounded by FOUR Ankaragucu defenders, was able to
shoot and score despite their feeble attempts to stop him. Aaaaargh !!!
It was almost
three 12 minutes later when a Malatya attacker waltzed through the Ankaragucu
defence, but his goal bound shot was deflected tor a corner.
Ankaragucu
eventually managed to put The Round Ball between the sticks and it was created
by Pinto who won a tackle on the left and passed to Orgill who advanced on
goal, looked up, and shot into the bottom left.
15 minutes to go
and Orgill scored the equaliser ........ or so he and everyone thought ! BUT, he was on the goal line when he
received a headed pass and was correctly ruled offside.
2 minutes later
and Ankaragucu was pressing forward in search of the equaliser and Orgill
had a genuine penalty appeal waved away
by the referee when he was pushed twice in the box.
Then, with 7
minutes to go and Ankaragucu still searching for that equaliser came the golden
opportunity which as missed. A cross came
in from the left to the unmarked Ilhan who blasted the ball over when a simple
side foot effort was all that was required.
Almost at the
final whistle and Orgill and Kulusic both bad chances to equalise. However, Orgill’s header was just past the
post and Kulusic copied Ilhan and blasted over when well placed in front of
goal.
Unforgivable
finishing from Ankaragucu and as the match entered 3 minutes added time, the
killer touch came from Malatya. A
fast attack on the left and a pass through the static Ankaragucu defence to an
unmarked attacker on the right. Altay
made a fantastic save to parry his shot, but the rebound was stroked in with
Altay helpless on the ground after the first save. Cruel on Altay !
Ankaragucu lost
to an average Malatya team due to sloppy defending and wastefulness in front of
goal, and as I said previously, it doesn’t auger well for some of the
Ankaragucu matches coming up, especially against Basaksehir, not to mention
Fener and Beshiktrash.
I think we must
prepare for a relegation scrap !!!
It’s the
International break next weekend and then Ankaragucu must prepare for the visit
of an improving Fener team.
Mustafa Bey
knows what he must do to have the players fired-up for the run-in, starting
first with Fener......spit......bahce !!!
All the best
from Eski Kanka Jim
