Northern Cyprus Football

Esentepe Lose Bad Tempered Match

News report from Rich’s Sport………

By Graham Brown and Richard Beale…….

Esentepe Lose Bad Tempered Match

Injury hit Esentepe were well beaten by 3rd place Gençlik Gücü in this bad tempered match, which simmered a few times during the match and finally reached boiling point when the final whistle blew.

Result : Esentepe Kksk 0 Gençlik Gücü Tsk 2

Saturday February 6th 2016– K-Pet League 1 @ Esentepe Erdal Barut Stadium.
Weather : Cloudy, cold, with the occasional shower.
Esentepe colours : Red shirts, black shorts/socks.
Gençlik Gücü colours : Green shirts with white vertical stripes on front, green shorts/socks.

The first match of the second half of the season saw injury hit Esentepe give League débuts to 2 teenagers. 15 year old Emre Mutlu who was playing central midfield and 16 year old Emre Soytürk playing wide left midfield. Injuries, suspensions and transfers to Esentepe midfield has forced Coach Gokhan Kim no option but to play the 2 untried youngsters. Veteran Captain Berkan was switched to central midfield from his normal position in defence. Esentepe’s replacement bench looked strong, but most of the players there are carrying injuries and unable to play a full 90 minutes.

The game started very quietly as both teams seemed to take time to get back into the swing of things. Gençlik Gücü were very strong and robust in their tackling and Esentepe’s 18 year old forward Mehmet was a victim of a very heavy challenge from Süleyman.

Gücü took the lead from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute, when Hüseyin Küsbeci turned well in the box and appeared to fall over the leg of Esentepe’s defender Salih. Referee Evren had no hesitation in awarding a penalty and Hakan Altin drove the ball high into the net giving Tuğrul no chance. 0-1

Esentepe were indebted to Tuğrul in the 30th minute when Hakan broke through and looked certain to score until Tuğrul came out quickly to palm Hakan’s effort round the post.

Gençlik Gücü were having possession most of the ball and were passing it around nicely, Esentepe’s only first half effort came from Umar, who cut inside, exchanged a 1-2 with Eser before firing wide. Half Time : 0-1.

Again the second half started quietly, and Gençlik Gücü continued to be aggressive, no hanging back in some crunching tackles, Esentepe continued to struggle to put together any meaningful attack and the away team’s keeper Ferhat had little to do.

Gücü made the game safe in the 69th minute, when they broke on the left, through Halkan Altin. The ball came across where it was clinically finished by their top scorer Hüseyin Küsbeci. Several Esentepe defenders were appealing for offside particularly Emek who seemed very incensed.

In the 89th minute Esentepe substitute Başak put in a very strong challenge on Halkan Altin, which resulted in a melee amongst the players, with Başak and Emek very much involved. Eventually the game restarted without further incident until the final whistle when all hell let loose. Both sets of players started a fracas, pushing and shoving. The Coaches and Assistants of both sides, came running onto the pitch to haul players away and out of trouble. Around 30 police came on to restore some sort of peace, which was still simmering in several places. Esentepe Captain Berkan, pointed accusing fingers at the officials and had to be restrained by the Police, it appeared to me he was then yellow carded and then red carded, though it was reported in the newspapers that only Emek had received a red card. FULL TIME : 0-2.

SUMMING UP : Not a good advert for local football with the trouble at the end. Esentepe may have had 1 or 2 players red carded I am not sure, but one thing for certain they will be even further weakened when they face a difficult match against Denzili next week. Gençlik Gücü, looked a classy team, very tough at times, it was a case of men against boys. The youngsters did not let Esentepe down, it was some of the more experience players who struggled, too many passes going astray and poor execution of dead ball kicks. Esentepe apart from a couple of long shots did not look like scoring.

ESENTEPE TEAM (4-4-2, sub appearances in brackets, marks out of 10).
Tuğrul (gk) 6 : Barış 5 ( Muhamed 70), Salih 5, NERSIN 7, Emek 5 : Umar 6, Emre Mutlu 6, Berkan 6, Emre Soytürk 5 ( Başak 55 ) : Eser 5 (Emrah 65 mins) Mehmet 6 :
Replacements not used :
Serkan (gk), Burak, Eşref, Asil Arif

LEAGUE APPEARANCES sub appearances in brackets, maximum 13 games )

14 : Emek : 13 : Mahmut, Nersin : 12 : Burak, Kaan, : 11 : Umar (2), İlyas (1), Berkan (2) : 10 : Serkan (2) : 9 : Eser (5) 8 : Vurkan : 7: Salih (3), Başak (3) : 6 : Barış (2) : 4 : Tuğrul : 2 : Mehmet (6) , Emrah (8) : 1 : Emre Mutlu, Emre Soytürk : 0 : Muhammed (6), Aziz (2), Tugay (1), Aras (1)

LEAGUE GOALS :
4 : Kaan, Eser : 2 : Emek (2 pens), Başak : 1 : Umar, Burak, Emrah plus 1 own goal = 16.
Due to the injury crisis Esentepe were unable to field a team for the Under 19 match, which was forfeited.

ESENTEPE NEXT MATCH ; 
Sunday 14th February : Away : kick off 2-00pm: v Denizli at Denizli Stadium, Lefke.

To read more from Esentepe Community and see the latest match video, please click here