By Richard Beale …..
Second place Mağusa Türk Gücü scored a late winner in the 76th minute to condemn Esentepe to a fourth straight defeat. The Famagüsta based team deserved their win but Esentepe can hold their heads up high as they gave everything in this match, but once again there were no points for their efforts.
Result : ESENTEPE KKSK 0 MAĞUSA TÜRK GÜCÜ 1
Sunday November 4th 2018 : K-Pet Super League : Esentepe Erdal Barut Stadium.
It has been a traumatic week for Esentepe with Davut Kansu resigning from his position of Technical Director, which has been very unsettling for the Club. A new Coach, Necatı Tilki, has been named as Davut’s successor and he will take over on Monday, he was at Sunday’s match observing from the sidelines. For this match ex- Esentepe Coach Gökan Kim and Ex-Captain Berkan Arslan were given special permission from the Football Federation to oversee the match ahead of Necatı arriving next week. The team did not let Gökan or Berkan down as they gave everything in their tank that was possible.
They came across a very impressive Mağusa Türk Gücü (MTG) team who were technically more skilful, confident and fitter. The Famagüsta team have been very big spenders in the transfer market and there was a definite difference in the quality of players in comparison to Esentepe. Esentepe were fortunate that MTG were missing players such as the quality of Sami, Şenol and last season’s Super League top goalscorer Uğur Gök through injuries.
Esentepe gave a 125% effort, they needed to as MTG dominated most of the match, with the home side failing to create one single shot on goal.
Esentepe rode their luck on many occasions as they defended their goal desperately, tenaciously and fiercely at times.
11 mins : An Emre cross from the left found Peter Ebi whose fierce shot was blocked by Şahin and deflected for a corner. MTG appealed for handball against Şahin but to no avail. From the resulting corner there was an almighty scramble in the Esentepe box before it was eventually cleared.
16 mins : From a Yasin corner Halil Turan sent in a powerful header straight into the arms of goalkeeper Ali.
Esentepe were working overtime trying to thwart a very confident looking MTG team. Just before the interval Esentepe had another lucky escape when from a Peter Ebi corner big centre back Michael headed strongly goalwards only to see his effort hit his fellow teammate Obimo and deflect just over the Esentepe crossbar. HALFTIME SCORE : 0-0
The second half continued in the same fashion as before with MTG pushing Esentepe back into their own half. MTG attacked continuously but Esentepe defence remained stubborn and resolute.
They finally cracked in the 76th minute when Peter Ebi took control of the ball and passed to ARIF UYSAL whose shot beat goalkeeper Ali at his near post . 0-1
MTG fans celebrated and some too exuberantly as fights and scuffles broke out among the spectators. The fireworks continued on the terraces for around 10 minutes and this seemed to distract Esentepe’s efforts, they became deflated and the match drifted along tamely in the last 15 minutes..
84 mins : A long bouncing ball into the Esentepe area ended with Halil Turan beating goalkeeper Ali to the ball, but defender Hasan was alert enough to clear the ball. FULL TIME SCORE 0-1.
SUMMING UP : Another example of the difference between the “big clubs” and Village teams like Esentepe. No disgrace to losing to MTG and the team did well to keep the score down to a single goal. Unfortunately until the transfer window opens in January we must make do with what we have got. We lack strikers and we did not create one chance, but it wasn’t through lack of effort from our only striker Odi who ran his socks off again for Esentepe. Captain “for the Day” ŞAHİN was Esentepe’s best player, strong, determined and ultra competitive. The New Coach would have been encouraged I think in what he saw, we have played all the top teams over the last few weeks so hopefully the matches will get easier.
To view the highlights of this match do watch the video below
courtesy of Graham Procter-Brown
