ANKARAGUCU – BAD OLD HABITS RE-SURFACE !!!

 

 

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

 

Ankaragucu came out of the tunnel last night in their all red strip (bordering on PINK), which as we know, is not popular with their large fan base.    As I have probably mentioned before, that the first time I saw Ankaragucu wear this strip was quite a few years ago in Buca when I mistook Ankaragucu for Buca (they wear blue and yellow) for the first 5 minutes or so of the match   !!

 

Anyway, back to last night’s match and our Webmaster, Nady, nailed it with an apt quote .......ie, GARBAGE   !!!       Nady is well known for not mincing his words   !!

 

Ankaragucu’s bad old habits re-surfaced throughout most of the match, ie, ponderous going forward and passing from left to right, especially in their own half, pumping high balls into the box in hope rather than to a  team mate, giving the ball away cheaply, hoofing the ball out of defence in panic mode ......... to name just a few   !!

 

Also, Ankaragucu can dispel hopes of qualifying for European Football next season based on this performance.   The priority would seem to be avoiding relegation   !!!       Coach Emre has much work ahead with this squad of players   !

 

Istanbulspor             2                      ANKARAGUCU               1

 

Team  -  Bahadir, Hanousek, Cetin, Radakovic, Bilazer, Bekiroglu, Tolga, Rodrigues, Morutan, Renaldo and Bajic

 

Substitutes – Ali Sowe, Dokanovic, Atakan, Pedrinho and Macheda

 

On the plus side, Ankaragucu started the match on the front foot .........well at least for the first 10 minutes, when they had Isanbulspor pegged-back in their own half.        Then, against the run of play, Istanbulspor hit Ankaragucu with a sucker punch.

 

Istanbulspor made a fast break out of defence down the left wing, an astute pass was made to an attacker who took the ball to the goal line and made the classic cut-back to the unmarked Traore who swept the ball in for a well constructed goal.

 

Obviously buoyed by their goal, Istanbulspor came more into the match and started to look threatening, with especially Alassave causing havoc down the right wing with his speed and telling passes into the danger area.

 

Then, in the 22^nd minute Ankaragucu was thrown a lifeline by the referee when he deemed that Renaldo was brought down in the box as he was about to cross the ball into the centre.   I have to say that it was a ‘soft’ penalty in my opinion, and probably awarded due to the referee having turned down a more obvious claim for a penalty earlier.     Am I being cynical   ??!!

 

Anyway, Tolga took responsibility and sent the ball inside the left post with the ball just out of reach of the goalkeeper’s outstretched hand.

 

All square and still all to play for in the 2^nd half.

 

Istanbulspor started the 2^nd half looking the likelier team to snatch the lead, and it was no surprise when they eventually did.

 

In the 59^th minute I had just written the following in my notes ............the Ankaragucu defence is living dangerously and giving the ball away needlessly at times.......

 

Then, only one minute later a complete shambles in the Ankaragucu defence gifted the winning goal to Istanbulspor.

 

A shot was made and hoofed away by a defender, but only to an Istanbulspor attacker just outside the box.     His shot on goal was only parried by Bahadir but straight to Gultekin who reacted quickest to score with the goal at his mercy   !!

 

With 10 minutes to go, it was almost 3 when Bahadir cleared the ball from his hand straight at an Istanbulspor player but a saving tackle came in to spare his blushes   !

 

Ankaragucu continued to pump aimless balls into the box as they searched frantically for another equaliser, but the Istanbulspor defence soaked them up with ease.

 

Back to the drawing board and a chance to make amends next Sunday when Ankaragucu will be at home against bottom of the league Samsun.     Only 3 points will suffice   !!!

 

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim