ANKARAGUCU IN DIRE STRAITS !!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Well, let’s not shake our heads and gasp at the result.   As I’ve said more times than I care to remember, there are no ‘easy’ games in this league, especially against a strong Goztepe team who came to Ankara with their tails-up and to attack from start to finish..

ANKARAGUCU     1                Goztepe       3

I watched the match with Atagun in the warmth and comfort of the Alerta Bar with the temperature hovering at just below 0 degrees C outside.   Am I getting soft in my olde age ?    Answers not invited   !!!

Team – Korcan, Kitsiou, Kulusic, Pazdan, Pinto, Moke, Sedat, Canteros, Aydin, Ilhan and Orgill

Substitutes – Cebrail, Alper and Hasan

It was an amazing start to the match.   After only 30 Seconds on the clock, Goztepe broke with speed down the left with the Ankaragucu defence still in doze-mode.   The cross came in and the shot was destined for the back of the net, but Korcan made an instinctive save and the rebound went straight to Halil who made no mistake with Ankaragucu players still lagging and unable to protect Korcan.   What a sucker-punch  !!

Ankaragucu tried to respond and Ilhan had THREE genuine attempts in the next 15 minutes to find the equaliser, but from the first, his header was easily saved, and the other two were over and well past the post as he scuffed his shot for the latter.

Then, on the 20^th minute mark Ankaragucu should have had a penalty when a Goztepe defender used his hand to control the ball before clearing.   Sedat asked for VAR, but the referee waved his protests away.   The TV replay showed clearly that the penalty should have been awarded.    Win some, lose some  !

5 minutes later and panic stations in the Ankaragucu penalty area with their inability to clear the danger.    However, a plus point here for Ilhan when he tracked back to dispossess a Goztepe player who was gearing up to shoot.

A minute later and it was Pazdan to the rescue to block a dangerous goal attempt.

The equaliser came against the run of play on the half hour mark and it was much maligned Ilhan who was the hero.   Ankaragucu took a quick corner to catch the Goztepe defence sleeping and the ball was crossed in from the right.   The ball was cleared and was picked up Sedat, but before he could do anything constructive, Ilhan pounced first to fire a snap-shot into the top left for a classic predator’s goal.

Goztepe returned to the attack and a saving tackle by Kitsiou prevented a goal, and so Ankaragucu deservedly went in all square at half time, and it could be argued that this was down to their fighting spirit.

The 2^nd half was barely 2 minutes old when Ankaragucu again suffered a sucker-punch and conceded an early goal.   A cross came in from the right to the back post and there was the dangerous Serdar (Man of the Match) to bullet a header in with Korcan well beaten.

10 minutes later and it was all over for Ankaragucu when that man again, Serdar, collected a pass on the left and sent in a screamer to the top right corner with Korcan well beaten again.   There are few, if any, goalkeepers who would have saved his 2 goals, so no criticism of Korcan on all 3 goals.

Goztepe should have extended their lead in the 64^th and 80^th minutes but two great saves by Korcan kept the score ‘respectable’  !!

In all honesty, I can’t really complain about the result.   Goztepe was sharper and took their 3 goals well.   The Ankaragucu weaknesses are there for all to see, so no point in dwelling on the obvious.

Ankaragucu remain stuck in 2nd bottom place in the league, but if Kayseri win tomorrow night then they could replace Kayseri as the bottom club !!

Next Saturday Ankaragucu travel to Istan.....spit.....bul to take on Galata.....spit.....saray, so perhaps this will be another disaster waiting to happen   ??!!

As always, watch this space for the details.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim