Greetings Kankas
and Kankies.
Nine matches
into the season and Ankaragucu still haven’t recorded their first win of the
season after returning empty handed from Antalya last night. They therefore remain firmly rooted to
the bottom of the league and are now looking for miracles with some difficult
fixtures coming up – as I’ve said many times here, there are no easy matches in
this division !
Antalyaspor 1 ANKARAGUCU 0
Team – Ricardo,
Pinto, Pazdan, Diousse, Kitsiou, Atakan, Saba, Alper, Voca, Orkan and Bolingi
Substitutes –
Cetin, Endri, Borven and Adzic
The first half
was pretty much evenly contested, but Ankaragucu should have gone in ahead at
half time.
Alper had a
great chance in the 17th minute when he ran with the ball from the
half way line, but when he entered the penalty box he was dispossessed when in
fact he should have passed to the right to the unmarked Orkan.
3 minutes later
and another chance was missed when Bollingi passed to Orkan on the right, but
his shot was straight at the goalkeeper who saved and the danger was cleared.
3 minutes after
that, Ankaragucu thought that they had received a lifeline when a penalty was awarded. Kitsiou was brought down in the box by Eren
as he was about to shoot. The referee
pointed to the spot and produced a red card for Eren, who took the long walk to
the tunnel, but lingered there to see the outcome of the penalty. In the meantime, the referee had received a
message in his earpiece and then signalled VAR. After consulting the VAR he changed his
mind, awarded a free kick to Antalya and recinded the red card. Naturally, there was a protest from the
Ankaragucu players with Kitsiou receiving a yellow card. The referee probably decided that Kitsiou
had stumbled and then dived, but even after watching the replay it is not 100%
clear !!
So, into
stoppage time in the 1st half with still all to play for and then
Ankaragucu shot themselves in the foot
!!
In the 45th plus
4 minute, Podolski was in his own half and sent a long pass to Jahovic who
escaped from Pazdan and Atakan, brought the ball under control and sent a shot
in from the right to left with Ricardo making it easy for him by committing himself
before the shot.
I have to say
that Podolski showed great vision with the pass and Jahovic great anticipation
and control. However, the covering of
Pazdan and Atakan was questionable to say the least !
Shortly after
the resumption of play Atakan almost allowed Antalya to make it 2. Inside his own box he was caught in two
minds on what action to take and was dispossessed by Amilton who was
fortunately too slow to react and the danger was cleared.
Ankaragucu
continued to search for the equaliser but the final pass was just not there and
the Antalya defence was sweeping everything up and looking pretty solid.
15 minutes to go
and it was Ricardo to the rescue when he saved at the near post from a cheeky
back heel flick from an Antalya attacker.
Then with 3
minutes to go came Ankaragucu’s best move of the match. Saba was substituted, and not before
time !!! Sure, he made lots of runs down both wings
but his crosses were all for Antalya defenders. Also, I lost count of the times he fell
down as he tried to go past defenders.
His days as an Ankaragucu player are surely numbered !!
Ankaragucu ‘olde
boy’ Orgill came off the bench and had 3 attempts to put the game beyond
Ankaragucu. However, fortunately
Ricardo saved 2 and the other went narrowly past the post.
Lots of passing
by Ankaragucu in their own half of the field, lots of back passes to Ricardo
and not much up front where the damage should be done. In fact, Ankaragucu had a measly 3 shots on
target throughout the whole match !!
I have nothing
positive to say which is probably understandable as Ankaragucu sit bottom of
the league and continue to prop it up !!!
They will have
another chance to find that first win of the season next Saturday at home to
Konyaspor. Yet another mountain to
climb !!
All the best
from Eski Kanka Jim
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