going into this one i wasn't all that confident. since the half-season break we had drawn against samsun. samsunspor! then we lost away to karabuk. karabukspor! then earlier this week we were knocked out of the turkish cup by boluspor. boluspor! what chance did we have against a half decent team such as eskisehirspor who have been sitting in the top five or so for most of the season? i assumed bugger all.
genclerbirligi 2 - 1 eskisehirspor
i didn't realise but i put in the wrong bar for our meeting point and so today the chopin got our custom. admittedly it wasn't much custom as it was just spine, little oz kanka and myself who showed up for pre-match drinks. have to admit though the kofte was very yummy.
made it in just in time for the national anthem.
kick off and it was a bit of this, a bit of that. neither team was outstanding but gencler were looking okay. a few scary moments but ultimately no real shots on goal from either side except for one shot from former gencler player burhan. i think it hit the post and then out but i'm not sure.
then in the 23rd cem can had the ball on the right and sent in a perfect cross right onto the head of herve tum who is becoming a real header specialist. the keeper had no chance. according to a tweet by @sayinumit this was tum's ninth goal this season, eight of them coming from headers.
all joy in the stands and then almost immediately we threw it away with some crap defence, especially in the midfield/final third. argh.
1-1 at half time and actually i wasn't too upset. we had played okay, not brilliantly, but we were still in it.
second half and gencler again played well. i particularly liked ergun at the back. he was not just good at some last minute tackles but also got himself forward and almost got an assist for his troubles.
the winning goal finally came from a corner.
it was played short and (i have to look up a report of the match here) ergun sent it in to the box and oktay delibalta headed it in. --- so i guess ergun did get his assist.
great stuff. plenty of time left in the match though and eskisehir went all out for the equaliser. they played like mad but couldn't really set up many good chances. those they did set up they sent them miles wide.
then .... drama!!!!
87th minute, a scramble of sorts in the box and my hero of the match, ergun, made a schoolboy mistake by holding on to the arm of an attacker. there was absolutely no need for it and the referee pulled out a yellow card and pointed to the spot.
fingers were crossed, little oz kanka's legs and arms were crossed as well. damn lucky they were as the eskisehir player sent the penalty wide.
cue celebrations in the stadium.
and that was it really. we had a few more chances in the last minutes but didn't take them. i don't care. this was a huge win for genclerbirligi and for the briefest of moments we go into fourth spot (this may change before the end of the weekend).
all up, gencler are looking okay, not brilliant, but winning ugly is better than losing beautifully.
* headline provided by little oz kanka
edit: i forgot to add the very last seconds of the match. ermin zec was fouled within millimetres of the box. the decision was a free kick outside the box. for my mind it should have been a penalty. in any case, we had the shot and then the referee blew it up.
