By Richard Beale…..
Result: ESENTEPE KKSK 0 GIRNE HALK EVI 0.
GIRNE HALK EVI – ESENTEPE KKSK
Sunday February 5, 2017 : K-Pet League 1,Beyaz Group : Esentepe Erdal Barut Stadium.
A frustrating afternoon as promotion play off contenders Esentepe and Girne Halk Evi, cancelled each other out and provided little thrills for a reasonably sized crowd.
Esentepe’s poor afternoon was complete when they had midfielder İlyas Nıyazi sent off in the 76th minute.
Both teams struggled to retain any possession for any length of time and the match was littered with mistakes and niggly fouls.
Girne Halk Evi (GHE) were the better team in the opening exchanges, a long free kick from Hüseyin in the 24th minute found Süleyman at the far post and his header hit the outside of the post.
Then in the 31st minute a sloppy mistake from Esentepe’s Eser, allowed Hüseyin in, who found Hasan on the edge of the area and his shot just cleared the Esentepe bar.
They came even closer 4 minutes later when a great ball from Yankı found Hasan on the edge of the penalty area but his shot hit the advancing Tuğrul as he came out of his area, rebounded off him to Firat to clear off the line.
Esentepe had created little, but just before half time the tireless Tacettin created space for himself to put in a cross shot which was palmed away from GHE goalkeeper Hasan. Then in injury time from an Umar corner he got in a back header which again was palmed away by the keeper. HALF TIME : 0-0.
The second half continued in the same vein with little action, Tuğrul was brought into action making a fine diving save pushing over the bar a good effort from Berk.
Esentepe’s poor disciplinary record this season continued when they lost midfielder Ilyas sent off for a second yellow card offence.
In the 87th minute GHE spurned a golden opportunity to take all three points home with them, following a mistake by Esentepe’s Firat who got caught in possession by Yankı with only goalkeeper Tuğrul to beat. Unbelievably the GHE Captain side footed his shot wide from only few yards out, much to the disbelief of the GHE supporters who were already celebrating the goal. FULL TIME : 0-0.
SUMMING UP :
Esentepe turned in their worse performance of the season, they are so inconsistent at the moment. Last week down to 10 men and 2-0 down away to League leaders Ozanköy, they produced a magnificent plucky performance. Simply they were not at the races today and were lucky to come away with a point. The effort was there as it always is, but something was missing today and so another vital 2 points were lost. Nersin in defence was very steady as was Mahmut who had a good game making one particularly last ditch tackle on a GHE player when he was clean through.
ESENTEPE TEAM : (4-4-1-1, replacements in brackets, merit marks out of 10)
Tuğrul (gk) 7 : Emre Soytürk 6, NERSIN 7.5, Firat 6, Uğurcan 5 ( Emrah 30, Muhammed 75) : Umar 4 (Reşat 65), Mahmut 7, İlyas 4, Eser 5 : Hüseyin 4 : Tacettin 5.
Esentepe replacements not used : Kurşat, Derman, Şahin, Hürkan.
ESENTEPE YOUNG TEAM A2 RESULT :
ESENTEPE KKSK 6 GIRNE HALK EVI 2.
Good news for the youngsters as they go the top of the table with a convincing win over bottom place GHE.
ESENTEPE GOALSCORERS : HÜRKAN 9,40, 63 : EGE CAN 30,80 : ILKIN 87.
ESENTEPE NEXT MATCH : Sunday 12 February : AWAY to Tatlisu HOSK @ Beylerbeyi Dr Ali Özsoy Stadi.
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