ANKARAGUCU INTO THE 5th ROUND OF THE TURKISH CUP ...........BUT !!!

 

 

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

 

Ankaragucu is safely into the 5^th Round of The Turkish Cup tonight, but not without some heart-stopping moments in the 1^st half when Iskenderun of the 2^nd League almost snatched the lead in the last 15 minutes.

 

ANKARAGUCU           3                  Iskenderunspor           1

 

Team – Rafat, Hanousek, Atakan, Kitsou, Mert, Cem. Andrei, Tasos, Rodrigues, Bajic and Macheda

 

Substitutes – Pedrinho, Efkan, Ali Kaan, Hayrullah and Renaldo

 

I was unable to watch the first 30 minutes as i was on Taxi Duties for ‘she who must be obeyed’   !!!       However, from replays, Ankaragucu was awarded a penalty after 15 minutes which was despatched by Bajic inside the left post with the goalkeeper almost stopping it.

 

7 minutes later and Iskender was level when a cross was sent in from the right to the far post. Yokuslu was first to it ahead of Hanousek and he sent a header inside the opposite post.

 

Bajic almost put Ankaragucu ahead on the half hour mark with a goal bound overhead kick inside the 6 yard box but the goalkeeper pulled-off a great save to tip the ball over the bar.

 

Approaching half time and it was Iskenderun asking all the questions of the Ankaragucu defence   !!   

 

Rafat was in excellent form when he saved a certain goal bound shot, and then just before the half time whistle he made another excellent save.    From the resultant corner, an Iskenderun forward sent his shot into the side netting.

 

The 2^nd half was only 1 minute old when a sloppy back-pass was pounced on by an Iskenderun forward on the left.    He sent an astute pass to an unmarked colleague in the centre, but fortunately his shot went narrowly past the post.

 

Ankaragucu finally woke-up at this point and started to look threatening.    But, it took until the 67^th minute for them to make the breakthrough   !

 

It was a well worked team goal.    From a free kick inside their own half, the ball was sent to Rodrigues on the left who then passed inside to Efkan just outside the box to the left of centre.   Efkan then sent a well placed shot to the top left.     The sighs of relief all round must have been Deafening   !!!

 

7 minutes later and the match was put to bed.      Efkan with a sublime pass to Tasos, who read it well, and off he scurried towards the out-rushing goalkeeper.    He kept his head and lobbed the ball over him and into an empty net.

 

Renaldo almost made it 4 a few minutes later, but his shot was saved for a corner.

 

All credit to Iskenderun for not being overawed by the occasion and they still persisted with their attacking plan until the final whistle.     On their form shown tonight they will surely be contenders for promotion to The Championship League this season.

 

The 5^th Round of the Cup will probably be played in January or February.

 

Back to league action next Monday 11 December when Ankaragucu will be at home against Rize.

 

As always, watch this space for the outcome.

 

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim