Greetings Kankas
and Kankies
Yes, a
disappointing result, but Ankaragucu was still in the match and searching for
the equaliser at 2-1 down, and fully deserving of a point. However, football can be cruel sometimes and
one lapse of concentration near the end was enough for Sivas to take all 3
points.
Sivasspor 3 ANKARAGUCU 1
Team – Korcan,
Kitsiou, Pazdan, Kulusic, Pinto, Sedat, Faty, Moke, Hasan, Ilhan and Orgill
Substitutes –
Aydin, Mehmet and Sadaev
Only Eski Kanka
was in The Alerta Bar along with guest kankas Haluk, Yildirim and Emre.
The match was
only one minute old when Orgill was put through after a mistake by a defender,
but as he was pondering whether to go alone it or pass to the free colleague on
the right, he was dispossessed and the chance was lost.
Sivas soon put
Ankaragucu under pressure and it took a good save from Korcan to save a goal
bound header, and then Ilhan made a saving tackle in the box to divert the ball
away from the danger area, and at this stage 15 minutes in, Sivas was looking
threatening.
Then, against
the run of play, Ankaragucu snatched a goal when a Sivas defender and the
goalkeeper got in a tangle from the defender’s slack back pass. Orgill was hovering and pounced on the
mistake to take the loose ball and walk it in.
4 minutes later
and it was Pinto to the rescue when Sivas made a fast break, but with the
Ankaragucu defence back-pedalling, Pinto made a saving clearance to stop a
certain goal.
However, that
equalising goal came 5 minutes later but it could have been prevented if Moke
had been more alert. A cross came in
from the right which was headed down in the box and the loose ball was
collected by Mert who fired in a shot from the left to the right. As I said, Moke had the chance to prevent
the shot if he had shown more anticipation of the danger.
2 minutes later,
Sivas scored again, but it was rightly chalked off for offside without
reference to the VAR.
5 minutes to go
before the half time whistle and Hasan was in a promising position inside the
box but before he could shoot he was harshly penalised for a foul on a
defender.
Still time
before the whistle for Ankaragucu to score when they were awarded a free kick
just outside the box, but as happened last week, Ilhan sent his effort into the
wall and it was cleared. He almost
made amends in time added on when his goal bound shot was well saved
The 2nd
half was only 2 minutes old when Sivas took the lead for the first time and
again it was Mert who did the damage.
He received a pass on the left just outside the box and sent a screamer
to the right which hit the inside of the post and in, deceiving Korcan in the
process.
I think Metin
Bey will work on free kicks this week at the Training Area. We have seen Ilhan hit his into the wall
last week and this week. In the 63rd
minute it was the turn of Aydin to do the same. Aaaaaargh, wasted opportunities going
begging and unforgivable to waste such scoring attempts.
To be fair to
Ankaragucu, they kept pressing forward and Ilhan was unlucky to see his
snap-shot saved. Also, Aydin sent in an
inviting cross from the right which was attacked and headed clear by a Sivas
defender with Ankaragucu attackers out of position to capitalise.
Approaching the
final whistle and Faty almost conjured up the equaliser with a fierce goal bound
shot, but the Sivas goalkeeper made a great save to deny him.
At the other
end, Pazdan was his usual commanding self when he cut-out a pass destined for
an attacker in a goal scoring position.
Mehmet joined
the ‘missed free kick club’ when he sent his free kick over the bar for 3 Rugby
points !!
On the 90th
minute mark and Mehmet gifted the ball to Sivas when he missed the ball and the
Sivas attacker was quick to latch onto the ball and it took a great save from
Korcan to tip the ball over the bar.
Into
time-added-on and the sickening blow was struck to put the match beyond
Ankaragucu. A cross from the right to
the unmarked Moustapha on the left who had drifted clear of the Ankaragucu
defence and he had the simplest of tap-ins.
There was still
time for Sadaev to sneak a consolation goal, but his header was sent just past
the post.
A cruel ending
to the match for Ankaragucu, who to their credit, never let their heads go
down.
So, 7 matches
into the season and Ankaragucu has dropped back into the relegation area and
find themselves only one point above the 3rd bottom position. Sivas, on the other hand, leap up to 2nd
top and the situation in the league is finely balanced with a host of clubs
fighting it out in mid-table, and Ankaragucu has only 7 points less than
leaders Alanya !
It is
unnecessary to hit the panic button at this stage, but with the next fixture at
home to Beshiktrash in 2 weeks time, the squeaky-bum time may not be too far
off for Ankaragucu !
Next weekend
there is an international break which gives Metin Bey an opportunity to prepare
for the visit of Beshiktrash and hopefully Canderos will have recovered from
his injury and be in the position to take the free kicks from the 3 duffers !!!
All the best
from Eski Kanka Jim