By Richard Beale ……
Esentepe were beaten but they did not disgrace themselves, they fought hard but eventually were overrun by the unbeaten runaway leaders.
Result : TURK OCAK U21 4 ESENTEPE KKSK U21 1
Saturday January 5 : Super U21 League : Karaoglanoglu Orhan Dural Stadi.
Esentepe were missing their midfield talisman Emre Mutlu through suspension and teenage striker Hürkan Görneçli who was injured in Esentepe’s last first team match.
These two players were sorely missed. Emre provides the ammunition in midfield whereas Hürkan is tall and powerful in attack, unfortunately Esentepe were a little lightweight upfront..
In contrast Türk Ocak are a rich Club with unlimited resources so they can pick the cream of the youngsters in the Girne area. They looked strong, fit and powerful, their replacement bench looked the same as well. In contrast on the Esentepe bench they were kids some probably only 14,15 or 16 years of age not 20 or 21 as was Turk Ocak’s. 5 years is a lot of difference in teenage development.
Türk Ocak have won 13 times and drawn 2 of their 15 matches, their wins have included victories 13-2, 12-0, 10-2, 7-0 and 5-0 so Esentepe did pretty well to keep the scoreline respectable.
Esentepe ‘Man of the Match” MUHAMMED KARAL first photo in red.
The game was pretty even for the first 15 minutes but gradually Türk Ocak took control and took the lead in the 21st minute when Doğukan made a good run from the left to the middle before passing to ALI AVCISOYU who beat Onur in the Esentepe goal. 1-0
Turk Ocak increased their lead in the 31st minute after poor defending from Esentepe CEVDET GÜRSEE ALICI brushed easily past Semih Can and Ali Soytürk before screwing his shot past Onur. HALF TIME SCORE : 2-0
Esentepe started the second half looking like they meant business and almost reduced the arrears in the 48th minute when following a Hüseyin Bahçeci cross the tall Semih Arslan did well to get a header in despite the close attention of a defender and the goalkeeper, but the ball went agonisingly wide.
Esentepe were enjoying their best spell of the match as they took the game to their opponents. They were rewarded when Sükrü Hilmi was brought down by Ex Esentepe Young team Captain Tuğrulsan in the 65th minute. MUSTAFA GÜNLÜ sent the goalkeeper the wrong way with his penalty. 2-1
Türk Ocak in black applying the pressure.
Unfortunately the fightback did not continue when Türk Ocak increased their lead in the 67th minute. Alı crossed from the left to the far post where CEVDET GÜRSEE ALICI unmarked headed in 3-1
In the 87th minute Turk Ocak sealed their victory when DOĞUKHAN ALTUNTIAŞ cut through a non-existent Esentepe defence to score. FINAL SCORE 4-1
Türk Ocak as expected have some talented youngsters, Ali Avcisoyu, Cevdet, Ibrahim all caught my eye. Their best player was MUSTAFA DEVRİMER who was the architect behind many of his team’s attacks.
For Esentepe tall midfielder Semih Arslan again shows promise and hopefully will continue to develop. MUHAMMED ALI KARAL who has had first team experience, made all that count, and had an outstanding game in the heart of the Esentepe defence.
