ANKARAGUCU – THE SHOW IS BACK ON THE ROAD !!

 

 

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

 

Yesterday didn’t start on a positive footing when Damon and I were ALMOST thrown out of the Stadium.    

 

It was all so innocent at The Police Checkpoint after entering the Stadium, because after all, we are not exactly hooligans ............ well, even if I do look like one   !!!       Anyway, the Police Officer checking me, decided that my phone charger was a ‘dangerous weapon’ despite my pleas that it was a necessary piece of equipment to operate my telephone   !!

 

He was not impressed and ordered me to put it in the rubbish box.     Damon leapt to my defence and informed him that the charger is an expensive item and would be an unlikely weapon, and when that logic failed, he informed the Police Officer that it was tantamount to theft to take my charger   !!

 

As you can imagine, this did not sit well with the Police Officer who then indicated to me that he would put us out of the Stadium if I didn’t comply.     At this point, and by a lucky chance, a Temporary Police Officer who had overheard the conversation, intervened and offered a solution.

 

He suggested leaving the charger with the Cafe staff and fortunately an old friend of ours (A Prosecuting Judge from the Ankara Courthouse) was there with his nephew and that impressed the shit out of the Police Officer   !!       He folded   !!!!

 

So, once again TORPIL works in Turkey (ie, it’s not what you know, but ......who   !!).   This story will no doubt resonate with Cider Kanka Johnny A who also had an occasion to experience torpil in the past thanks to his Ankaragucu TShirt  !!

 

There were two happy endings to this story ................ 1.    I retrieved my valuable charger at half time.      2.     Ankaragucu won all 3 points   !!

 

So, back to footie after that exciting torpil story   !!

 

Ankaragucu fully deserved to take all 3 points after an excellent team performance reminiscent of the days when Omer Erdogan was our Coach.     I think  the crucial factor was the inclusion of Milson up front to support Ali, and they seem to have developed a successful partnership.     

 

Zahid, who wore the captain’s armband, was prominent in midfield and Emre also had a good match supporting the 2 strikers.    I don’t want to single out any players in particular, suffice to say that it was a first class team performance.

 

ANKARAGUCU              2                           Alanyaspor               0

 

Team –Gokhan, Kitsiou, Radakovic , Atakan, Hasan Ali, Taylan, Diack, Zadid, Milson, Emre and Ali Sow

 

Substitutes – Berzde, Andrej, Firatcan and Pedrinho

 

The first goal arrive just after the ‘Bursaspor Song’ in the 16^th minute which, by the way, was not sung by Damon.      Mmmmmmm......... I wonder why   ?        Perhaps he will tell us in the comments section   !!!

 

After a defensive mistake by Alanya, the ball was picked-up by Taylan who fed it to Milson on the left who then cut the ball back into the centre for Ali to stroke in.

 

Alanya almost equalised 6 minutes later when an attacker wasn’t picked-up, but his header flashed inches past the post.

 

Approaching half time and Milson should have scored the 2^nd when he received the ball in the box from a free kick, but he blasted it over when he really should have done better.

 

On the resumption of play, Ankaragucu laid siege to the Alanya goal and were unlucky on 4 occasions  not to find the 2^nd goal.

 

Zahid, Milson, and Ali all had shots on goal which were either saved, deflected or past the post.

 

However, that crucial goal eventually came with 15 minutes to go and what a cracker it was too.     The ball was passed to Milson just outside the box on the right and he sent a screamer of a shot inside the left post to tie the match up. 

 

So, 3 valuable points after some disappointing results over the past few weeks.     It is becoming quite congested at the bottom of the league, and discounting Hatay and Antep, there are 8 teams within 7 points of each other.      Ankaragucu occupy 6^th bottom place.

 

So, it is going to be a bloody scrap towards the end of the season which is all the more reason to build points now before the run-in starts   !

 

A good opportunity for 3 more points from Ankaragucu who will be away in Sivas next Sunday 19^th March, so as always, watch this space for the outcome.

 

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim