Greetings Kankas
and Kankies.
Having withstood
the expected barrage of attacks from Fenerbahce in the opening half of the
match, Ankaragucu settled into their normal rhythm in the 1st half and
made a few sporadic attacks of their own without causing any serious problems
to the Fener goalkeeper.
However, when
Ankaragcu went ahead with the goal of the match with only 5 minutes left to
play, we were all left ecstatic and hoping for an historic victory, but ...........
we forgot that this is not always possible in Turkey when a dubious penalty was
awarded to Fener a few minutes after Ankaragucu went ahead. I hope that the referee with hang his
head in shame at his dishonesty, but I have my doubts !!!
Victory was
stolen from Ankaragucu at this decision and we can only wonder why he gave the
penalty ??!! The referee was surrounded by Ankaragucu
players when the decision was made and they were obviously asking him to check
VAR, but for some reason only known to himself, he refused !!
If he had
bothered to check the VAR he would have seen that Matej and a Fener player (I
think it was Valencia) were both following the flight of the ball, which didn’t
reach them, and they collided with each other accidentally. As an ex-Class 1 referee, there is no way
that was a penalty !!!!
The referee then
decided to add 10 minutes of extra time which was another dreadful
decision. There were no major hold-ups
in the 2nd half and again, only he knows where the 10 minutes came
from !!!
Of course, after
Fener scored their penalty, Ankaragucu should have ‘shut up shop’, but they
didn’t and therefore paid a heavy price.
The very least that Ankaragucu deserved was a point for their never ending
endeavour throughout the match, but there will no doubt be happy faces in the
corridors of the TFF at the final outcome
!!!
End of rant and now
to some of the action .................
Fenerbahce 2 ANKARAGUCU 1
Team – Gokhan,
Matej, Mujakic, Kevin, Kitsiou, Atakan, Diack, Emre, Zahid, Taylan and Ali Sowe
Substitutes –
Milson, Firatcan and Andrej
Ankaragucu
received their first scare of the match as early as the 7th minute
when a goal bound shot came in from the right which Gokhan saved for a
corner. From the corner another goal
bound shot came in which was cleared off the line by a defender.
Approaching half
time and Fener hit the woodwork on two occasions with Fener laying siege to the
Ankaragucu goal. Gokhan also made a
great save from Arda in a one-on-one situation.
So, us kankas
were fairly happy when Ankaragucu went in all square at half time with still
all to play for in the 2nd half.
7 minutes into
the 2nd half and Ali found himself in a good position in an
Ankaragucu attack when he shot for goal but the tackle came in as he did so and
the ball was deflected for a corner.
2 minutes later
Diack almost scored with a shot inside the 6 yard box but the goalkeeper made a
save for a corner.
Ankaragucu was
more involved in the match in the 2nd half and their reward finally
came 10 minutes before the end of the match when Ali put Ankaragucu ahead. A great break out of defence by Diack and
his pass to Ali on the right was perfect for Ali to surge into the box and
shoot. The goalkeeper saved the shot
but could only parry the ball back to Ali who made no mistake with his second
effort.
Then 3 minutes
later came the incident which I mentioned at the beginning of this report. Valencia sent the penalty kick inside the
right post with Gokhan diving the other way.
Fener scented
blood and poured forward seeking the winner with Ankaragucu very much on the
back foot. Into time added on and Gokhan
made another great save from a goal bound free kick.
However, the
damage was done in the 5th minute of time added on when Cresspo shot
from the left side of the 6 yard box inside the right post with the Ankaragucu
defence all at sea. After the penalty
it was obvious that they needed to ‘shut up shop’ which they didn’t quite
manage to do professionally !!!
This result
keeps Ankaragucu in the Relegation Zone and still involved in attempting to
stay ahead of Umraniye, Giresun and Istanbulspor.
Giresun will be
at home today against Sivas, and of course we will be hoping that Sivas can do
the biz !
Next up for
Ankaragucu is the crucial ‘6 Pointer’ against Giresun at home on Thursday 20
April. Nothing less than 3 points
will suffice for Ankaragucu !!!
As always, watch
this space for the outcome.
All the best
from Eski Kanka Jim
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