By Richard Beale……
An Ahmet Karal goal in the 58th minute secured a vital win for Esentepe in a tense, nail-biting match. Esentepe just about shaded the match, which as predicted before turned out to be a thrilling encounter.
ESENTEPE KKSK v MORMENEŞKE GBSK
: ESENTEPE KKSK 1 MORMENEŞKE GBSK 0
Saturday 3rd February 2017 : K-Pet League 1 : Esentepe Erdal Barut Stadium.
Esentepe maintained their promotion challenge with a hard fought win over a tough Mormeneşke team. With League leaders Gönyeli winning narrowly away to Bostanci 3-4, Esentepe maintained their pressure on them with only 2 points separating them.There was little to choose between the teams, with both defences cancelling out any attacking options. The majority of the play was in midfield where Esentepe just about won the battle with Yakup and Mahmut doing particularly well to overcome their very difficult opponents.
Esentepe recalled central defender Nersin Osman in place of the suspended Ismail Uçar, but played him on the left wing to man mark Mormeneşke new signing, the dangerous Ridvan Doymaz.
Esentepe “Man of the Match” YAKUP in action
Mormeneşke settled well early on and threatened in the 5th minute when a through ball gave
top goalscorer Turgut Kaçar a whiff of a shooting opportunity, but a combination of Muhammed and goalkeeper Kemal managed to intercept resulting in the effort going just wide.
The rest of the half was a scrapping affair, with both teams managing to cancel each other out. Most of the play was in the a congested midfield area as both teams robustly and competitively tried to compete for supremacy. HALF TIME SCORE : 0-0
At the start of the second half, Mormeneşke were in the ascendancy after a goalmouth scramble. Esentepe’s Muhammed did well to put his body on the line to charge down a shot.
After 57 minutes Esentepe introduced their new signing from Turkey Ismail Aslan in place of Nersin. With his first touch of the match, he took a corner which was met at the far post by Başak who managed to find AHMET KARAL in space to volley first time past his fellow namesake Ahmet in the Mormenşke goal. 1-0
Esentepe’s cause was helped in the the 80th minute when Mormeneşke Emre Kuvetlişahin was sent off for 2 yellow card offences after fouling Mahmut,
In fairness to Mormeneşke they piled men forward as Esentepe defended stoutly in numbers, but despite some scares Esentepe hung on to a very narrow victory. FULL TIME SCORE ; 1-0
SUMMING UP : As expected this was a very hard match, with very few chances created by both sides. Two good defences dominated the match with the midfield being very competitively contested for, but Esentepe just shaded it.
Esentepe back 4 were very solid, backed up by the midfield who constantly tracked back to help their defence. A very nail biting affair, and Esentepe just about deserved their victory..
Kemal again showed great authority in goal, dealing with crosses and shots. Central defender Hasan had a very good game in keeping the shackles on Mormeneşke top scorer Turgut. Ahmet, scorer of the Esentepe goal, was always lively on the right wing. In midfield Mahmut put in a good shift, but his fellow partner YAKUP was outstanding, involved everywhere, only 19 years old he has a great future in the game.
ESENTEPE TEAM : (4-4-1-1, marks out of 10, replacements in brackets}
Kemal (gk) 7 : Muhammed 7, Hasan 8, Şahin 7, Onur 6 : Ahmet 7, Mahmut 7, YAKUP 8.5, Nersin 6 ( Ismail Aslan 57) : Başak 6 (Iltay 85) : Eser 6 (Hüseyin Ermiş 76)
Esentepe replacements not used : Hüseyin Ikinçi (gk), Burak, Mustafa, Emre Mutlu.
MORMENEŞKE :
Ahmet (gk) : Hüseyin Özbaysal, Nasuh, Omer, Emre, Ali, (Sami 65)
Gökay, Sabri, Rifat, (Burak 55), Ridvan, Turgut,
RED CARDS :: Emre : YELLOW : ESENTEPE : Nersin, Muhammed: MORMENEŞKE
Emre, Burak :
Video highlights of the ESENTEPE KKSK v MORMENEŞKE GBSK match by Graham Procter-Brown
