son dakika: genclerbirligi guarantee mid-table finish! fans yawn!
this was going to be my last home match of the season as i will be away for the final match against bursa, and so i was hoping to witness something like we experienced a couple of weeks ago. gencler were, however, a shadow of the team that beat fener 2-0.
that's it. genclerbirligi have officially finished the season without being relegated, and without gaining a spot in europe. mission accomplished.
and one other thing. news just in that bjorn is to stay at genclerbirligi for another season. great news.
genclerbirligi 0 - 0 kasimpasa
for early may it is pretty hot here in ankara. no complaints from us though as we sat outside for pre-match kofte and drinks.
met the fellow parishioners at the stadium, the priest blew his whistle and gencler decided to play with the enthusiasm of bunch of blokes attending the 6am service after a bachelor's party the night before (apologies to stefan for nicking the joke and then stretching it to death).
having said that we were better than kasimpasa, zec had hit the crossbar on one occasion and on another we had the ball in the back of the net only for a foul to have been called. i didn't see and neither did most of the crowd, so i can't say whether it was the right or wrong decision.
0-0 at half time but i was still pretty sure we would win it.
in the second half we attacked again but so often it was just useless with sloppy passes, wrong moves and too bloody slow. our best chance came towards the end when bjorn failed to connect properly to a ball going across him. it was the sort of thing bjorn hits in his sleep. us in the crowd could only slump in frustration.
and thus it ended.
it wasn't just my last match of the season it was also the last match for thijs and his son charlie who are returning to holland after a stint here at the dutch embassy. they have been stalwart fans since they arrived a few years ago and all us gencler fans will miss them. good luck chaps!
