Sunday, October 09, 2022

ANKARAGUCU – BACK ON THE WINNING TRACK !!

 



 

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

 

The match yesterday was played at a fast and furious pace throughout and Ankaragucu had to work hard for all 3 points.

 

They scorned lots of chances, and Ali Sowe in particular needs extra training in a few departments, especially shooting accuracy   !!

 

Anyway, this victory will have done wonders for the players confidence with the upcoming visit of Fenerbahce.    The players need fear no team, and must take the bull by the horns and attack Fener   !     After all, Fener is not invincible, and I am surer Omer Bey will have the players fired-up for this match.

 

It also moved Ankaragucu out of the relegation zone and if the team can maintain this momentum, mid-table security is well within their grasp.

 

Istanbulspor               1                   ANKARAGUCU             2

 

Team – Gokhan, Yasin, Nihad, Uros, Oguz, Tolga, Giorgi, Pedrinho, Taylan, Emre and Ali Sowe

 

Substitutes – Jese, Zahed, Pedro, Anastasios and Bahadir (who replaced the injured Gokhan near the end of the match ).

 

Back to yesterday’s match and Ankaragucu was fast out the traps and took the lead in the 15th minute when Taylan surged through the Istanbulspor defence and flicked a pass to Emre on the right who guided the ball inside the left post.

 

Ankaragucu was playing some nice football and spraying the ball around to find openings and they should have increased their lead near the half time whistle when Ali Sowe had a great opportunity in the centre of the box with only the goalkeeper to beat, but his weak shot was easily saved.

 

Ankaragucu went back into attack mode on the resumption and again Ali Sowe had an opportunity in the centre of the box when the ball was played to him, but he fumbled the ball and the goalkeeper was able to gather.

 

3 minutes later and Ali Sowe yet again passed up another chance   !      He was put through in his own half and ran all the way inside the Istanbulspor box and then, with only the goalkeeper to beat, he blasted the ball high and wide   !!

 

4 minutes later and Istanbul snatched the equaliser from a cock-up in the box when Gokhan and Oguz went to defend the same ball and collided with each other.     Ethemi was lurking in the same area and he nodded the ball into an empty net for an easy goal.

 

In the meantime, Giorgi had a couple of efforts on goal which sailed past the post.

 

15 minutes to go and Pedro almost gifted Istanbulspor a goal with sloppy defending and dithering with the ball.    The ball was gratefully accepted by an Istanbulspor attacker, but fortunately his shot went flying past the post.

 

1 minute into time added on and Ankaragucu managed to find the winning goal which their play had deserved.    Tolga was fouled near the half way line and a quick free kick was taken.     The ball was played out to the left and crossed into the box near the goal line and eluded the defenders but fell nicely to Ali Sowe on the goal line who bundled the ball in.   He couldn’t miss from this position  !!!

 

Almost on the final whistle and Bahadir made an outstanding save to deny an attacker’s shot inside the 6 yard box.

 

A great never-say-die performance from Ankaragucu.      However, and notwithstanding Ali’s goal, he is becoming the ‘new Geraldo’ with the number of scorned chances he misses, the number of times he is beaten in the air and his distribution questionable.    Omer Bey needs to look urgently for a predatory striker who can score goals on a regular basis   !!

 

As I said earlier, next up for Ankaragucu is a home match against Fenerbahce on Monday night 17th October.

 

As always, watch this space for the outcome.

 

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

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