Stancu celebrates

I did like this photo.

Ankaragucu 2-0 Altay Match Report !

Three wins in a row and 3 cleans sheets as Ankaragucu came away from Altay today with the 3 points after a very disciplined and hard working 2-0 win. Fuat Aykuz has also maintained his undefeated start to his Ankaragucu career. There is no doubting that since he has come in he has shored up the defence. Players like Volkan Geyik and Aydin Toscali will need to up their game if they want back in the starting line up. Bayram Olgun kept his 3rd clean sheet in as many games since he was reinstated to the first team.

Team - Bayram Olgun, Metin Aydin, Aytac Oden, Selim Teber, Emre Tasdemir, Serhat Gulpinar, Serkan Sirin, Kaan Kanak, Mehmet Cakir, Umut Nayir, Kale Leventowski

Subs - Gokhan Akkan, Onur Atasayer, Aydin Toscali, Harun Aydin, Hasan Ayaroglu, Gurkan Alver, Gokhan Erdogan

The manager brought Kaan Kanak back into the starting line up in place of Hasan Ayaroglu while Umut Nayir partnered Levent Kale up front as Harun Aydin was dropped to the bench. Altay is a difficult place for any team to go and win, a decent crowd at the Alsancak stadium and another good traveling support from Ankaragucu who again were praised for their behaviour.

The first half was a bit of a bore with neither Goalkeeper having much to do. The Ankaragucu defence looked solid and never gave anything away. Selim Teber moving to the back has made the difference, his experience and he can also play with the ball at his feet which is a big plus.

Both teams went in at half time level 0-0

Within minutes of the restart Ankaragucu had taken the lead, a good cross from the left was headed past the Goalkeeper by Serhat Gulpinar who sent the traveling support into wild celebrations. Still there was plenty time for Altay to come back into the match. The Ankaragucu team were having none of it, apart from a shot over by Mesut and a header by Mustafa which was straight into the arms of Bayram, Ankaragucu strolled through the rest of the game.

Ankaragucu made it 2-0 on the 64th minute through Leventowski The big striker got onto the end of a Kaan Kanak cross to head the ball into the top corner. Ankaragucu made many signings in the summer but Levent Kale has got to be the pick of them. His work rate is outstanding and he knows where the net is.

For the remainder of the match Ankaragucu were very comfortable with the home side never threatening. The home fans booed their players and even fought amongst themselves due to the anger of whats happening with their one time Super Lig club. Sounds familiar.

My frozen toes are grateful that we won't be playing at home for a while... Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Galatasaray

There were a lot of Istanbul cocukları out today. They were able to sing well, but really... your team is supposed to be one of the best in Turkey, you are riding high in the league, you just knocked Juventus out of the Champion's League but despite the fact you couldn't win against a team as lowly as Genclerbirligi you still went ahead with calls for the team to come over after the match. Do you really follow football? You are all Ankara people. You should be supporting Ankara teams. What you should not be doing is spending obscene amounts of money on official Galatasaray merchandise, going to one match a season and then at that match swear at true Ankara football fans. Ankara fans of Istanbul teams, with very few exceptions, are just simply pathetic.

Having said that, thanks for the gate receipts.

Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Galatasaray

If the Genclerbirligi bus had got stuck in traffic on the way to the ground things would still have been okay because us Kankas could have filled in. The Beer Bus was taken over as we had Flying Dutchman Kanka in goal, Carl at left back, Steve at fullback, Spine at fullback, Dan the Man at right back, Mark on the left wing, David in the centre, Our Finnish friend as the other centre, Oguz at right wing, and Aiden in a sort of slot behind your good correspondent who simply stood around doing nothing much for most of the match but was ready to take all the GLORY!!!

Fortunately the Gencler bus did arrive and we kicked off positively enough but it could have been for nothing when Schneider sent quite a good chance flying over the goal. I only know that it was Schneider thanks to the kids behind me (children belonging to us Kankas that is) actually recognising the Galatasaray players... I didn't say it at the time but ... "Istanbul cocukları!".

We even had the ball boys and girls.
Anna, Matthew, Tanner and Ville

It was only a few moments later though when it was us Gencler fans who were leaping for joy when it was some simply nice passing from Jimmy to Petkovic to Stancu who took a shot from a difficult angle that the diving keeper couldn't save.

One-nil up after only six minutes or so and well... could this be another amazing giant-killing performance? What was especially weird was the fact that for the last few weeks we have been absolutely crap.

Us Gencler fans, even those who had forked out 75 lira for the Maraton tickets, would have been very glad for the referee to blow his whistle there and then. It was below zero after all and the idea of going to a nice warm and cosy pub was very tempting. The Gencler players probably felt the same and while it was true that from that goal onwards our players were, at best, not the quickest to get balls back into play, we still played with attacking intent.

Our midfield was good with Gosso delivering good ball. The defence was solid, with Ferhat on the right particularly good, but yet again our last attacking force just wasn't good enough. Our blokes either took too long to get crosses in or else sent them too far. Perhaps Zec on the right should have been more attacking to get to some of the crosses... perhaps the player kicking the ball should have gone for a player, not a space.

But really, all this is me being picky. We played well, there was some wonderful individual football, some woeful refereeing (when has there not been) and it was a good crowd of maybe 15,000 watching what was a fun match.

Galatasaray got back in the second half thanks to yet the latest old-age pensioner to have some sort of Golden Pond moment at Galatasaray - Drogba. No complaints from me on that one. It was a decent cross in and Drogba, pretty much unmarked, simply headed it in.

We continued to play half-decent footy but couldn't really get many real chances. Just toward the end though Galatasaray really had us sweating. They were getting damn good shots off left, right and centre and if it wasn't for the heroics of Ramazan in goal we would have been toast. In the last three minutes I think he pulled off three match-saving saves. --- does that count as alliteration? ---

The referee blows the match up and us Gencler fans are pretty happy that we were able to stave off the kind of ugly result of something like what happens when England send a team of cricketers to Australia.

True Galatasaray fans, those from Istanbul, would have been disgusted with the result.... The mob there tonight were merely pleased to be seen on TV wearing their official merchandise.

As for us Gencler fans? Perhaps not delighted... but a point against Galatasaray is probably about all we we could have hoped for.      
 

Ankaragucu vs Altay match preview !

Tomorrows match will see Ankaragucu take on Altay in Izmir as they look to maintain their food form of late with another win. Like Ankaragucu the home side Altay who were the last Izmir club to play in the Super Lig have had tough times of late due to financial problems. This season so far Altay have had a start stop campaign. Last week they lost at home 3-1 against Bandirmaspor.

Altay have some good players in their side like top scorer Murat Uluc and Mustafa Cevahir. They sit just outside the playoff positions, but a win or possibly a draw could see them climb into a playoff place. A good crowd will be expected for tomorrows match between the two biggest clubs in Lig 2.

A good 3-0 win for Ankaragucu last week at home to Iskenderun will give them the confidence going into the match, another clean sheet will also lift the team. It will be interesting to see the starting line up with so many players fighting to get into the team. Emre Tasdemir has moved back into defence with Onur Atasayer and Mehmet Tasci both dropped to the bench. Hasan Ayaroglu continues to show inconsistency as does Kaan Kanak.

One player you have to give praise to is Bayram Olgun, he came under pressure from the fans after some poor performances last season, but he has showed loyalty to the club by signing a new contract, and also remained patient as he claimed back the number 1 jersey from Gokhan Akkan. In the two starts he has kept 2 clean sheets.

Tomorrows match will be another 1330 kick off Turkish time, last week i got the prediction spot on, this week I'm going for 1-1. Altay is a tough place to go to and with them raising there game for the arrival of Ankaragucu it could be a decent point.

ANKARAGUCU RESPOND TO NADEEM'S PREDICTION !

Team - Bayram Olgun, Metin Aydin, Selim Teber, Aytac Oden, Emre Tasdemir, Serhat Gulpinar, Harun Aydin, Serkan Sirin, Mehmet Cakir, Hasan Ayaroglu, Levent Kale

Subs - Gokhan Akkan, Umut Nayir, Onur Atasayer, Aydin Toscali, Kaan Kanak, Gurkan Alver, Gokhan Erdogan


Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

However, it could so easily have been 4, especially in the last 10 minutes when Ankaragucu battered the Iskenderun goal, and but for poor finishing from Mehmet and goalkeeper heroics it could even have been FIVE.

ANKARAGUCU    3     Iskenderunspor    0

I arrived in the Stadium to be met by Boston Kanka Russell and then Cider Kanka John.    Battle Damaged Kanka was 'illness damaged' and couldn't make it.   We all hope he is back on his feet again soon.

Gecikondu was full (as always), Maraton was almost full and there were TWO lonely souls in the away end who were being kept company by two policemen !

It was a bitterly cold day after the snow yesterday and all that was missing was some Laphroaig to tip into our tea to warm our insides !

It was an edgy start for Ankaragucu with Iskenderun not content to play the sitting duck.   All end to end stuff and then the game exploded in the 15th minute with a disputed penalty for Ankaragucu.   Even though it was in our line of sight, we couldn't see exactly what the infringement was due to the crowded penaltly area, but I would guess that the referee saw a hand ball.

After 2 yellow cards and lots of protestation, Levent stepped up and coolly despatched the ball into the left corner.

Iskenderun didn't buckle and kept the pressure on, and to be perfectly honest, it was a relief when the referee blew for half time.

Ankaragucu was a wee bit fortunate to go in 1-0 up at half time.   Iskenderun had always looked dangerous in the final third and was giving as good as they got.

Into the 2nd half and Ankaragucu started more positively and I was impressed with their chasing and harrying.    Obviously the half time team talk had the desired effect !!

15 minutes into the 2nd half and the crucial goal arrived.   A great through ball down the centre for Levent to chase and he latched onto it, took it in his stride, and drove a great shot into the corner for the 2nd goal.

This was the signal for Ankaragucu to take control of the game and I was impressed with the way they were spreading the ball around and making Iskenderun chase the game.

The 3rd goal arrived on the 78th minute mark after a great passing movement which ended up with a low hard hit right wing cross which was tucked in by Umut with the goalkeeper helpless.

It was all Ankaragucu now with Mehmet missing two great chances to make it 4 and the Iskenderun goalkeeper making two great saves.

Final whistle and back to the Chopin to celebrate where we learned the great news that Alanya could only manage a draw today.    The pressure is ON now and the Ankaragucu players have made a statement of intent !

The show is back on the road again and Ankaragucu can go to Izmir next weekend full of confidence in their own ability to stick that round thingie in the back of the net yessssssssssssssss !!!

Another 3 points pleeeeezzzzzz !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

PS ......... Althought the whole team played well today, I forgot to mention that Metin was my Man of the Match for his 100% contribution in defence and attack.   His passing was excellent and I think we can say that we have found a gem of an attacking full back !

Ankaragucu vs Iskenderun Demir Celikspor match preview !

Ankaragucu welcome Iskenderun Demir Celikspor to the 19 Mayis Stadium on Sunday afternoon looking to make it 2 wins in a row and put their title hopes back on track. After winning 2-0 at Bozuyukspor last weekend, the team will now be looking to go on a winning run and put Alanyaspor and Altinordu under pressure.

The visitors have lost their last two games at home to Altay and away at Bandirmaspor, their last two wins have been both on the road at Bozuyukspor and Ofspor. Like every other game in this Lig, Ankaragucu will need to show the visitors respect, keep it tight at the back and take their chances up top.

Last weekend Fuat Aykuz dropped a number of players including, Volkan Geyik, Aydin Toscali, Onur Atasayer and Gokhan Akkan. The coach brought in Metin Aydin to partner Gurkan Alver at the back while Bayram Olgun reclaimed the number 1 spot in goal. With the team keeping a clean sheet it will be difficult for any of those players dropped to return to the starting line up this weekend.

Umut Nayir is also back in full training and will be available for selection, its no coincidence that since his injury that the team has struggled to win games. He leads the line and holds the ball up taking the pressure off the midfield and defence. He will be hoping to come into the starting line up and join Levent Kale who has been on excellent form scoring 6 goals from 9 games this season.

The game will be shown live on Baskent TV 1330 kick off Turkish time, 1130 UK Time. The Kanka group will be going to the stadium to show their support for the team. Anyone who wishes to join them should contact the blog for details where to meet.

Ankaragucu 2-0 Bozoyukspor match report !

Ankaragucu returned to winning ways today with a 2-0 win at Bozoyukspor. With Altinordu and Alanyaspor both winning it was important that Ankaragucu won to keep up with the leaders. Fuat Aykuz made a host of changes with Aydin Toscali, Onur Atasayer, Selim Teber, Kaan Kanak and Gokhan Akkan all dropped.

Team - Bayram Olgun, Aytac Oden, Metin Aydin, Gurkan Alver, Emre Tasdemir, Serkan Sirin, Harun Aydin, Serhat Gulpinar, Hasan Ayaroglu, Mehmet Cakir, Lvent Kale

Subs - Gokhan Akkan, Kaan Kanak, Onur Atasayer, Aydin Toscali, Batuhan Akyildiz, Umut Nayir, Gokhan Erdogan

So the manager making a host of changes and sending out the message that no one is to good to be dropped from this team if they are not performing. Ankaragucu lead 1-0 through Levent Kale going into half time.

Into the second half and it was Mehmet Cakir who scored the second goal to give Ankaragucu the 3 points and their first win in 5 league games. As discussed on the Round Ball in Ankara Facebook page after the game, its important that Ankaragucu keep winning and gain ground on Altinordu and Alanyaspor going into the winter break.

Next up is Iskenderun at home next week, we will have the match preview midweek as we look ahead at what Ankaragucu can expect from the visitors.