Greeting Kankas
and Kankies.
There can be no
complaints with all 3 points staying in Istanbul last night after, as expected,
there was an all-out attacking performance by Galatasaray which had Ankaragucu
on the backfoot for most of the match.
Galatasaray
could certainly have inflicted more damage on Ankaragucu had it not been for a
memorable goalkeeping display by Bahadir, who ........ as Maniac Kanka Harun
said ...... had the best match of his career
!
Galatasaray’s
superior fitness level was evident for all to see and they gave Ankaragucu no
time on the ball. Ankaragucu was
guilty of giving the ball away too easily when under pressure and their passing
out of defence was poor.
The statistics
of the match speak volumes.
Galatasaray had 70% possession, 36 shots on goal 6 of which were on
target. Ankaragucu had 13 shots
with only 1 on target !!
Man of the Match
was undoubtedly Bahadir, but at the opposite end of the scale, Bajic was
invisible for most of the match with only Rodrigues and Renaldo showing any
attacking prowess. The sooner Ali
Sowe returns from injury the better !!!
Galatasaray 2 ANKARAGUCU 1
Team – Bahadir,
Hanousek, Mujakic, Radakovic, Bilazer, Ali Kaan. Dokanovic, Renaldo, Rodrigues,
Morutan and Bajic
Substitutes –
Mert, Atakan, Alper, Tasos, Cetin and Bekiroglu
The 1st
half was all one-way traffic towards Bahadir apart from one chance for
Ankaragucu which fell to Morutan when he almost scored from a shot which was
heading to the top left before it was saved.
It was due to
Bahadir’s FIVE fantastic saves that Ankaragucu went in at the interval at 0-0.
2 minutes into
the 2nd half and Ankaragucu
silenced the crowd when they opened the scoring against the run of play.
A fast break out
of defence and a great pass was sent to Renaldo who was just inside his own
half of the field near the halfway line.
He collected the ball and set off, outpacing the chasing defenders,
looked up and sent his shot from the left inside the right post for a great
individual effort.
However, the
goal didn’t disguise the fact that Galatasaray continued to lay siege to the
Ankaragucu goal area.
10 minutes later
and the inevitable equaliser arrived from another piece of individual skill by
Zaha who had been causing problems throughout the match for the Ankaragucu
defence. From a throw-in on the left
he surged into the box after avoiding a weak tackle and sent in a screamer of a
shot which would have beaten any goalkeeper in the world.
15 minutes later
and Galatasaray was in front from a scrappy goal. A shot, or it could have been a cross, was
sent in from the right which eluded everyone.
It was about to trickle over the line when the in-rushing Bilazer
attempted to clear. The referee played
on, but was called to VAR to check the recovery action. He then returned and awarded a goal. I have to agree with his decision
unfortunately because it was clear from the replay that the ball had crossed
the line before Bilazer’s attempted clearance
!
Bahadir
continued his heroics right up to the final whistle with some excellent saves
to keep the scoreline respectable.
Ankaragucu is
now in danger of being sucked back into the relegation zone and at present lie
only 2 points above it. Therefore, next
Saturday’s match against mid-table Kayseri takes on added significance.
It is to be
hoped that Ali Sowe will be fit to return to lead the line and take advantage
of the chances which will hopefully be created by Rodrigues and Renaldo. It is quite obvious to me that Bajic is not
up to the task !!
All the best
from Eski Kanka Jim
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