Greetings Kankas
and Kankies.
I have to say
that it is sad that in a city of over 5 Million people there was only a few
small pockets of Gencler fans there last night, especially when you contrast
that with the large Rize travelling support. Things are looking bleak for those long
suffering Gencler souls !!!
It was a fairly
even 1st half, but Rize looked the more dangerous of the two going
forward and I was expecting them to up the pressure in the 2nd half,
and that’s exactly what happened as they gradually took control of the match.
It was
interesting to note that there were two Ankaragucu ‘old boys’ in the Rize
line-up, ie, Alper Potuk and Kubilay Kanatsizkus, both of whom made positive
contributions during the match !!
Gencler will be
looking for miracles before the mini Winter Break, and as I have said many
times here, there are no ‘easy’ matches in The Championship League !!
GENCLERBIRLIGI 1 Rizespor 3
Team – Adiyaman,
Metehan, Gokhan, Muhammed, Abdullah, Hrechyshkin, Aksel, Byelyayev, Baris,
Ahmet and Ilker
Substitutes –
Mert, Altiparmak, Baran and Seyit
Surprisingly,
Gencler took the lead in the 6th minute through a well taken goal
arising from a corner on the right.
The ball was swung over and Abdullah was first to it in front of the
goalkeeper to head in unopposed. The
Rize defenders will not relish seeing a replay of that goal !!!
20 minutes gone
and a similar goal at the other end for Rize to snatch the equaliser. A corner on the left was swung over and
Emirhan, surrounded by 4 defenders, headed in with another defender on the goal
line unable to reach it and Adiyaman caught out of position.
Approaching half
time and Rize claimed handball against a Gencler defender in the box. The referee consulted VAR and quite rightly
ruled it out. It looked to me like the
defender had his back to the ball and it cannoned off his shoulder, so no doubt
the correct decision was made !
It was mostly
all Rize in the 2nd half and it was Adiyaman to the rescue 10
minutes in when he made a spectacular save from a goal bound free kick.
However, it was
no surprise when Rize took the lead half way through the 2nd half
with a piece of predatory skill by Kubilay.
A cross came in from the left and Kubilay was in the right place at the
right time to side-foot the ball in.
Into time added
on and Rize put the sword in to consolidate their win. There didn’t look any danger when a Rize
player started an attack on left side of the halfway line. He sent a pass to his right when he found
his colleague (No 17 – couldn’t catch his name
!!) who surged forward into the box on the right avoiding 3 attempted
tackles, cut the ball back into the centre for Farouk to score the easiest goal
he will ever score !!
Almost on the
full time whistle and Kubilay missed a sitter inside the 6 yard box when he
skied his shot off Adiyaman when a cool side-footed shot to either side was all
that was needed !
Gencler only had
2 shots on target in the entire match which is a poor return for a team looking
to escape from the relegation zone !!
It won’t get any
easier for Gencler with an away trip next Saturday to play the surprise package
of the season, Bodrumspor, who have only lost 4 matches this season and sit in
7th top position in the league.
As always, watch
this space for the outcome.
All the best
from Eski Kanka Jim