GENCLERBIRLIGI FALL AT THE LAST HURDLE !!

 

 

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

 

Gencler paid the price of failure yesterday due to their early season poor form, especially the massive 12 drawn matches, and in so doing, failed to make the play-off positions.

 

The Championship League concluded yesterday with Eyupspor and Goztepe taking the automatic places.   The play-off places were taken by Sakarya, Bodrum, Corum, Kocaeli and Bolu.

 

All 7 matches yesterday kicked-off at the same time so the TV channel kept switching from one to the other.

 

Tuzlaspor              1                      GENCLERBIRLIGI                1

 

Team – Ertugrul, Yasin, Babacan, Nzaba, Oguzhan, Akabueze, Bugra, Ensar, Amilton M. Yatabare and Melih

 

Substitutes – M. Cagiran, Ozgur and Oltan

 

In a day of high drama, the first action of the day was in Adana where Bandirma, pre-match favourites for the play-offs, were reduced to 10 men after only 10 minutes.   Djitte was the culprit when he blatantly kicked a defender in the back of his leg as the goalkeeper was clearing the ball up-field.   The VAR referee alerted the referee to the incident and he stopped play to check the VAR screen.   Unsurprisingly, he returned to the field and produced the RED card to Djitte   !!     It is fair to say that Djitte’s stupidity contributed to Bandirma’s failure to make the play-offs.

 

Gencler took the lead on the half hour mark with a scrappy goal and a slice of luck when Awuku scored an own goal following Bugra’s shot on goal which had been saved.    The ball rebounded into his path and he could do little except watch the ball dribble over the line.

 

Tuzla was unlucky half way through the 2^nd half when a fierce shot from just outside the box hit the post with Ertugrul beaten.

 

That was it, with the match heading into time-added-on and Gencler heading for the play-offs.    However, not quite   !!

 

With the final whistle approaching, Bas prodded the ball in after Ertugrul had spilled a right wing cross.     However, the referee signalled a foul on Ertugrul, but the VAR referee consulted with the referee before the free kick could be taken.    It took forever for a decision (easily 5 minutes) and then the referee changed his decision and awarded the goal to Tuzla.

 

A little too late for Tuzla to escape relegation after Bolu had scored a late goal to leapfrog Gencler for the play-off position.

 

So, another season in the Championship beckons for Gencler.   It was a close call, and it goes without saying that the team will need to re-group and strengthen in certain areas before the new season kicks off. 

 

In the meantime, thanks to all my regular readers this season   !

 

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim