ANKARAGUCU – THE DRAW SPECIALISTS ...........AGAIN !!!

 

 

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

 

Ankaragucu fought back from a goal down last night, when seemingly on the road to another defeat, to cement their fast growing reputation as The Super League Draw Specialists   !!!

 

The torrential rain in the 2^nd half made the playing surface like an ice-rink and the players were forced into playing long high balls with the ball sticking to the puddles all over the pitch making it impossible to pass the ball with their usual accuracy.     It was farcical at times   !!!

 

The 1^st half saw both teams evenly matched until Ankaragucu was reduced to 10 men just before the half time whistle, and it was therefore no surprise when Alanya took the lead just after the resumption.

 

Alanya             1                         ANKARAGUCU           1

 

Team – Bahadir, Hanousek, Mujakic, Radakovic, Kitsiou, Pedrinho, Ali Kaan, Tasos, Efkan, Morutan and Macheda

 

Substitutes – Atakan, Bajic and Mert

 

Efkan received a yellow card just before the half time whistle for a dangerous looking tackle from behind to an Alanya player’s lower leg calf.      The referee was then directed to VAR and upgraded the card to RED   !

 

The only other significant action in the 1^st half was a great instinctive save by Bahadir into time added on when he stopped a bullet of a goal bound header fired in at close range.

 

The 2^nd half was only 2 minutes old when Alanya took the lead.

 

Balkovec shot from outside the box on the left which Bahadir seemed to have covered, but he fumbled the ball and it crept inside the right post.   It is easy to criticise Bahadir for preventing the goal but perhaps the soggy conditions contributed to his effort to hold the ball ??!!

 

At this stage of the match Alanya took control as they went for the kill and attacked relentlessly looking to put the match to bed   !!

 

However, 10 minutes later they also received a straight RED card when Fer followed through aggressively on a tackle.     It also resulted in a skirmish between several players pushing and shoving which resulted in 2 yellow cards to the main perpetrators, one of which was Radakovic.

 

The match then descended into a comedy of errors with all the players unable to control and pass the ball on the ground due to the puddles all over the pitch as the rain continued its downpour   !!

 

Then with 20 minutes to go, and from an Ankaragucu corner on the right, Rdakovic, sandwiched between two defenders, climbed highest to power in a header for the equaliser   !

 

5 minutes later the referee stopped play as he was obviously considering abandoning the match due to the atrocious conditions, however, after strong pleas from both captains, he agreed to continue   !

 

The match was then played out with long high balls for the attackers to chase in hope rather than with tactics, and also defenders hoofing the ball out of play to protect their goalkeepers.

 

So, to be perfectly honest, a fair result in the end, but it still leaves Ankaragucu perilously close to the relegation zone   !!

 

Next up is a home match against mid-table Kasimpasa on Saturday 13 January.      Dare I say it again ............ another MUST WIN match    !!!

 

As always, watch this space for the outcome.

 

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim