ANKARAGUCU POSTED ABSENT !!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Let’s leave the bad news for the moment and let me report some good news  !!

It gives me much pleasure to announce the birth of baby Isaac (hereafter known as Junior Kanka) to our regular correspondent Bellshill Kanka Nadeem and his wife, Rebecca, yesterday in Scotland.

We hope to have a photo of Junior Kanka in due course which will be put up here by either Nadeem or me.    Congratulations to you both from all the kankas and our readers  !

Now to footie and the not so good news  !

After the euphoria of last week’s excellent performance and victory against Fener.....spit....bahce, much was expected of Ankaragucu in the Ankara Derby.   However, for most of the match they were posted absent with Gencler dictating the flow of play and giving Ankaragucu all sorts of problems.

I lost count of the number of Ankaragucu passes which went astray due to the persistent harrying and chasing of this impressive Gencler team.   Last week’s star player, Saba, was a pale shadow of the player we know he is, and he was substituted halfway through the 2^nd half.

Redrigues was caught in possession numerous times and had a fruitless time of it up front, and the sooner he has his partner, Orgill, back, the better.

So, due to Gencler only allocating Ankaragucu supporters 10% of the Stadium, the kankas, (Battle Damaged Kanka, Haluk Kanka and I) had to watch the match in The Alerta Bar with lots of Gencler supporters who didn’t go to the Stadium.    Fortunately Gencler supporters are a friendly lot  !!!

Genclerbirligi           1             ANKARAGUCU        0

Ankaragucu Team – Ricardo, Kitsiou, Alihan, Kulusic, Pinto, Michalak, Lukasik, Faty, Lobjanidze – Saba, Ilhan and Rodrigues

Substitutes – Atilla, Rivas and Orkan

Genclerbirligi Team – Nordfeld, Erdem, Toure, Halil, Candeias, Baiano, Yasin, Sio, Sessegnon, Ramos and Stancu

Substitutes – Ahmet, Bjysymr and Berat

Both teams were content to size each other up until the 10^th minute when Rodrigues was put through on the left, but his shot to the near post was easily saved by Nordfeld.   The ball was returned into the danger area and hit Ilhan on the back of his head and out of play.   Comical  ???     Yes ............ unfortunately  !!!

7 minutes later and the save of the match by Ricardo.   A cross came in from the left which he palmed out to the right to an unmarked Gencler player who cut the ball back into the area near the penalty spot to another unmarked Gencler attacker.    Ricardo just had a moment to recover from the first save and dived to make a 2^nd save which prevented a certain goal.

Gencler continued to dominate and create chances and they almost opened the scoring just before half time whistle after Lukasik brought down Sessegnon just outside the box and received a yellow for his trouble.   The free kick was like a bullet and whizzed narrowly past the post.   Another let-off for Ankaragucu.

I was hoping for a game of 2 halves, but my hopes were dashed as Gencler continued to dominate proceedings and put the Ankaragucu defence under more pressure.

Unhappy faces, but unsurprising, especially in the 74th minute   !!!

Half way through the 2^nd half and Ankaragucu was awarded a free kick on the left just outside the box which went flying well over the bar (and not for the 1^st time  !!).

Sio was causing lots of problems for the Ankaragucu defence and he was denied a goal when his shot was just past the post.   Gencler had another chance a few minutes later when another shot went narrowly past the post.

However, the Gencler pressure finally paid off in the 74^th minute and nobody could have been surprised when it arrived.   A cross came in from the left and Sio rose above everyone else to send an angled header into the top right with Ricardo helpless to prevent the goal.   A classic header and well worthy of winning any match  !

Into time added on and Gencler continued to cut Ankaragucu open in their search for No2 with Ankaragucu devoid of ideas and their normal fighting spirit.

So, a disappointing performance by Ankaragucu, but all credit to Gencler who fully deserved to take all 3 points.

Ankaragucu remain in the relegation zone, but only one point below Konya and 4 points behind Rize, Denizli and Malatya.   Gencler on the other hand move up to 10^th place, and on this performance can put relegation fears to bed.

As I’ve said many times here, it doesn’t get any easier in this league and next Sunday Ankaragucu will play host to high flying Sivas who are sitting in the European places and will be looking to collect all 3 points.    The only way Ankaragucu will stop them is if they can re-discover the form they showed against Fener last week.   A tall order ......... yes, but not an insurmountable obstacle.

Gencler travel to back in form Galata.....spit.....saray in what will be a test of their recent resurgence.

Squeaky-bum time approaches for Ankaragucu  !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim