ANKARAGUCU TAKE THE BRAGGING RIGHTS ..... AND ......ALL 3 POINTS !!!

 

 

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

 

The Ankara Derby exploded into life half way through the 2^nd half when Ankaragucu went 2-0 up within the space of 5 minutes.

 

Gencler had their chances in the 1^st half, but they can have no quarrel with the end result which sees Ankaragucu move up to 13^th position in the table and put a little distance between themselves and the relegation zone.

 

Gencler meanwhile, are still stuck there and they now have a mountain to climb if they are to move out of the bottom four.

 

ANKARAGUCU             2                        Genclerbirligi          1

 

Ankaragucu Team –

 

Korcan, Kulusic, Sarlija, Pinto, Kitsiou, Ibrahim, Alper, Endri, Paintsil, Borven and Badji

 

Substitutes – Geraldo, Emre, Voca and Erdi

 

Genclerbirligi Team –

 

Nordfeldt, Polomat, Diego, Arda, Johansson, Soner, Piris, Ayite, Yilmaz, Candeias and Lima

 

Substitutes – Stancu and Sio

 

Gencler had the 1^st chance of the match in the 8^th minute after both teams had sized each other up.    Ayite waltzed through the Ankaragucu defence playing one-twos, but his shot was well past the post.

 

9 minutes later, there was a disconnect between Korcan and his defence when a back-pass was short which gave a goal scoring opportunity, but Pinto was in the right place at the right time to block the effort.

 

Ankaragucu thought that they had opened the scoring in the 20^th minute when from a free kick on the right the ball was played off a Gencler defender to Badji.   His back flick rebounded off his heel too fast and touched his hand before he scored, and after consulting VAR, the referee awarded a free kick to Gencler.    Unfortunate for Badji since it was obvious that the hand-ball was unintentional, but ............... rules are rules !!!

 

Gencler had 2 more goal attempts before the half time whistle but both were well saved by Korcan.

 

There was obviously a very serious talk in the Dressing Room at half time by Hikmet Bey when Ankaragucu came out with all guns blazing   !!!

 

9 minutes in and there was a terrible miss by Emre, who had come on for the injured Borven.   Great play down the right and a pin-point cut-back from Alper to Emre who shot weakly against a defender with the goal at his mercy.    He did something similar 5 minutes later, but ........ we can forgive him after his heroics in the 65^th minute.

 

Endri was brought down just outside the box just to the right of centre.    Emre stepped up to take the free kick ........ the camera panned-in on his face, a picture of concentration...... and then he let fly a fierce shot into the top left corner with Nordfeldt clutching air.     A goal worthy of ...... Goal of the Season  !!

 

4 minutes later and an Ankaragucu break which resulted in Endri going 1 on 1 with Nordfeldt.    His shot was parried and Arda, who was tracking back, knocked in the rebound   !!

 

15 minutes to go and Gencler broke away on the right.     Lima received the ball and passed to Stancu on the left who struck an angled shot into the right corner with the Ankaragucu defence caught out.

 

Gencler sensed blood and came pouring forward in search of the equaliser which almost came in the 82^nd minute but Korcan pulled off a great save from a Yilmaz goal bound shot.

 

There was just time for Emre to hit the bar with a great shot from just inside the box before the final whistle.

 

There will be no respite in the following weeks of the league run-down with some very difficult matches coming up for both teams.

 

Next Friday Gencler host Sivas in the early match, followed by Ankaragucu’s visit to league leaders Beshiktrash.

 

As I write this, the Erzurum v Beshiktrash match is tied at 2 each with 30 minutes to go.    Anyway, after the recent form of Ankaragucu they have nothing to fear from a visit to Istan.....spit....bul and we will hopefully again have an attacking line-up and attack from start to finish.

 

Bring it on.      Well played tonight Ankaragucu   !!!

 

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

PS .............. just about to print and Beshiktrash has scored a 3rd ...... Aaaaaaargh   !!!