ANKARAGUCU SAFELY INTO THE 6th ROUND OF THE TURKISH CUP !

 

 

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

 

Ankaragucu is safely into the 6^th Round of The Turkish Cup when they saw-off the challenge of Championship side Tuzla today in Antalya.

 

As we all know, there are ‘banana skin’ matches in The Turkish Cup and this fell into that category.    However, a professional job saw Ankaragucu progress albeit in a less than exciting match.

 

Both teams obviously agreed that the match should be played in Antalya, no doubt for the convenience of Ankaragucu who have had their ‘World Cup’ Training Area there, and the fact that they will play Antalyaspor on Friday when the Super League resumes.

 

The only irritation today was that ASpor TV shared the coverage of 2 matches with the same KO time.     This resulted in having to watch the Ankaragucu match in a small screen window in the bottom right hand side of the main picture which kept changing back to the Kasimpasa v Umraniye match every 10 minutes or so.

 

ANKARAGUCU            2                        Tuzlaspor               0

 

Team – Bahadir, Marlon, Sinan, Oguz, Atakan, Diack, Zahid, Jese, Tasos, Federico and Pepe

 

Substitutes – Firatcan, Ariyibi and Babacan

 

Ankaragucu made the perfect start when they opened the scoring after only 6 minutes.   A pass was sent to Oguz on the right touchline and he sent over an inviting cross to the back post which was missed by a defender, but the ball fell kindly for Jese who shot inside the right post.

 

6 minutes later and it should have been 2 when another cross from the right fell at the feet of Pepe but he skied the ball well over the bar.

 

10 minutes later and another let-off for Tuzla when an Ankaragucu goal bound shot was cleared off the line by a defender with the goalkeeper stranded.

 

Ankaragucu looked comfortable going in ahead at half time, but Tuzla was still determined to attack and so the 2^nd goal was necessary to calm frayed nerve ends   !!

 

It duly arrived 10 minutes into the 2^nd half and it was another cross from the touchline which set it up.      This time it was Marlon who sent in an inch perfect cross to Federico inside the 6 yard box and he side-footed the ball in for a well executed goal.

 

To Tuzla’s credit, they never gave up and continued to attack throughout the match.    It was Bahadir to the rescue with 5 minutes to go when he saved a goal bound shot.      Then, almost on the final whistle they were awarded a penalty.

 

There was a hand-ball in the crowded penalty area by an Ankaragucu defender and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.      It was a well taken penalty kick to the centre, however, although Bahadir dived to his right, he managed to kick the ball over the bar while in the air.      A great instinctive save   !

 

So, with 63% possession, it was a professional if uninspiring win for Ankaragucu.      Now we look forward to the 6^th Round Draw and always hoping for another home tie.

 

As always, watch this space for the details when it has been announced.

 

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim