Greetings Kankas
and Kankies.
A terrible
defensive cock-up into time added on at the end of the match yesterday gave
Boluspor all 3 points and left Ankaragucu needing to win their last match next
Sunday to go up to the Super League as Champions !
At the beginning
of the 2nd half when Ankaragucu equalised Bolu’s opening goal we all
sensed that the Ankaragucu avalanche of attacks would produce the winning goal,
but for all their huff and puff, Ankaragucu couldn’t find the killer touch. So, they paid the ultimate price for their
profligacy with sloppy defending at the end to set-up a grandstand finish to
the league.
What it means is
this ............
Ankaragucu and
Umraniye are on the same points at the top of the league and guaranteed
promotion, but which team is going up as Champions ?
On Sunday
Ankaragucu will be away to Keciorengucu, and Umraniye away to Genclerbirligi.
If Ankaragucu
and Umraniye both win then Ankaragucu will be crowned Champions based on the
head-to-head rule, because Ankaragucu beat Umraniye and drew the other match
against them. It’s as simple as
that !!
The honour of
being crowned Champions is now in their own hands !!
However, back to
yesterday’s match and the kankas watched it in Protokol (VIP Area) thanks to an
invitation from Posh Kanka Ahmet. It
was my first visit to Protokol at The Eryaman Stadium and it was an enjoyable
experience, well ............. apart from the final score of the match !!
ANKARAGUCU 1 Boluspor 2
Team – Bahadir,
Murat, Sinan, Babacan, Yasin, Ali Kaan, Sahverdi, Atakan, Arif, Aatif and
Muhammed
Substitutes –
Zahid, Eren, Ariyibi, Abdullah and Erdem
We were full of
optimism (as usual) and even the players must have felt it as they were
welcomed onto the pitch with a Guard of Honour by the Bolu players to celebrate
their promotion to the Super League.
However, that
feeling went out the window 13 minutes into the match when Bolu went ahead with
their first attack.
A free kick on
the right was sent into the box but not dealt with by the Ankaragucu
defence. Roshi was first to react to a
loose ball and he hammered the ball in with the Ankaragucu defenders looking
bewildered.
The only action
of note from Ankaragucu was a sublime effort by Yasin near the half time
whistle about 35 yards out which went narrowly past the right post.
The alarming
statistic from the 1st half was 72% possession by Ankaragucu and zero
shots on target !!! Unforgivable !!!
However, there
was more urgency and threat in Ankaragucu’s play on the resumption with the
introduction of Zahid and Ariyibi, and it certainly paid off 2 minutes in when
Zahid scored after excellent work by Ariyibi on the right and his accurate
cut-back from the goal line.
Ankaragucu
almost found the winning goal 10 minutes later when Sahverdi sent a great goal
bound shot from about 30 yards out which was brilliantly saved and tipped over
the bar for a corner.
Despite waves of
attacks, the winning goal wouldn’t come and the match entered time added on
with most of us thinking that 1 point was enough to stay 1 point ahead of
Umraniye. But .......... Ankaragucu’s
defending let them down yet again !!!
Terrible
defending and the ball was gifted to Bolu by the defence and the ball played to
Novak who sent his screamer of a shot from just inside the box to the top left
with Bahadir unable to reach it.
It was a
sickening blow to what was supposed to be a celebration day !!!
Anyway, as I
said at the beginning, all is not lost.
The accolade of going up to the Super League rests firmly with the
players next Sunday when they play local team Keciorengucu.
The Aktepe Stadium
is a small stadium in the Kecioren district of Ankara with a capacity of only
5,000, so we will be forced to watch the match in The Bira Park Bar. No doubt TRT will be flitting between the Ankaragucu match
and the Umraniye match !!
The kick off
time has not been announced yet, but when it is, I’ll put it here in the
comments section.
As always, watch
this space for the outcome of next Sunday’s crucial match.
All the best
from Eski Kanka Jim
Ankaragucu’s final match will be played at the Aktepe Stadium in Kecioren on Saturday 21st May kick off 4pm.
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned in my report, the Aktepe Stadium capacity is only 5,000, so I doubt that Ankaragucu will be allocated any tickets.
Therefore, the kankas will watch the match in The Bira Park Bar and no doubt TRT will be flitting between the Ankaragucu match and the Umraniye one which kicks off at the same time.
Haydi Ankaragucu............... let’s do this !!!