i reckon if genclerbirligi only have to play against nine men every week, we just might avoid relegation.
genclerbirligi 2 - 1 sivasspor
it seems insanely early but little oz kanka and myself headed out at 11 am on sunday morning. a good one-hours walk down to kizilay to find carl and spine enjoying their first of the day.
a lovely sunny sunday saw the gencler crowds come out of the woodwork which meant it took forever to get in. by the time we did get in, 12 minutes into the match, we found david and lisa and their two girls sitting miles away from where we normally sit (stand) because maraton was full. dan the man and his son efe showed up as well. a nice little crowd.
for the first time in ages i was down low and near the goal line and it makes for quite a different perspective on the match. up top is much more strategic, you can see formations and players in the free. down low, you can see just what a wally the linesman is.
there was not a lot happening in the first half. we had some chances and their keeper pulled off some great saves. then disaster struck in the most innocuous way. it happened down the other end from where we were but sivas were attacking. our man radkov then made a simple back pass into the goal. he didn't realise that our our keeper ferhat had come forward. he simply passed it into the goal. adfghs!
tomic forced a brilliant save from their keeper when he absolutely smashed a free kick but it was a few minutes later when the event came that changed the match. a sivaspor and gencler player were going for the bouncing ball, the sivasplayer got his boot onto it and the ball flew into the face of the gencler player. of course the gencler player went down, he had just got whacked in the head, but it was by the ball. the referee pulled out a card and then madness ensued. the sivas player went straight to the linesman right in front of us to ask why he had forgotten to put on his glasses. the bloke was right it was not a yellow. but then he did something really silly by pushing, even if it was only slightly, the referee. out came the red. it was a needless red but it was exactly what genclerbirligi needed.
half-time and we were one goal down but one man up. it should have been a walk in the park.
obviously we came out attacking and we had the odd good shot but most of the time everyone was too timid to have a go. or if we did it would bang straight into a defender or balloon a million miles high.
burhan then pulled down tomic in the box. by this stage we had moved to the other goal line, but up high this time, and it looked like a pretty cut and dry penalty. stancu stood up and goooaall!
i'm not sure why but then all the sivas players surrounded the ref. and for reasons that only be guessed at, another sivas player was sent off. no idea what happened but now sivas were down to nine men. there was still ages to go in the match but it took forever until jimmy lashed at the ball from 30 meters out and the keeper didn't have a chance. it was clear that jimmy really loved this one as he must have known just how many shots just like this one had gone flying the bar in the last few weeks.
2-1 ahead and if we were any good we would have made it 4-1. but we didn't, but we still get the three points. phew!
* edit: i've just watched the replay and it seems that the player sent off was clapping the ref after stancu scored the penalty. sent off for dissent?
