By Richard Beale …..
Esentepe have escaped automatic relegation from the Super League but in doing so their “star” player and leading goalscorer Junior Mfede will have to spend some time in the “slammer” having got himself sent off in injury time and could miss the next 2 or 3 matches.
Result : BİNATLI YSK 1 ESENTEPE KKSK 2
Saturday April 28, 2019. K-Pet Super League. Üner Berkalp Stadium.
Once again a journey to Guzelyurt’s Üner Berkalp Stadium proved fruitful for Esentepe, this has always been a “lucky” ground for them, rarely do they get beaten here. With this win and Gençler Birliği losing, automatic relegation is avoided, the play offs await with two more League matches to play.
Esentepe always make life harder for themselves, again it’s two steps forward, one step back. With Junior’s sending off he will miss maybe 2-3 games, his goals have been vital in helping Esentepe secure a relegation play off spot. Also his fellow African Efosa Francis picked up his 4th yellow card of the season and will miss next Saturday’s crucial home match against Gönyeli as well.
Esentepe’s win was fully deserved they dominated the second half and created the better chances and should have comfortably won this match.
Fellow strugglers Binatlı were poor, no doubt they were missing their injured joint top scorer Omodiagbe Victory who sat on the replacement bench not fully fit. He will be available for the relegation play offs, so Esentepe beware!
The first half was not very good, on a very warm afternoon, both teams were very cagey and chances were rare. Esentepe who have leaked goals recently employed an “offside trap” which seem to have worked!
“Man of the Match” UĞURCAN (red strip) on the attack and Esentepe defender ŞAHİN who had a fine match clears the ball.
MATCH NOTES :
34 mins : Good work by Binatlı’s two Brazilian players Vinicius Jorge and Dos Santos ended with Jorge heading straight at Esentepe goalkeeper Onur.
45 mins : A long clearance from Binatlı’s Zihni put Jorge in the clear but the striker shot over the Esentepe bar as Onur came out.
45 + mins: Binatlı would pay dearly for that miss as Esentepe with virtually their first attack of the half took the lead in first half injury time. Yakup on the right laid the ball back to Mahmut whose cross was flicked on by KAAN beating the Binatlı goalkeeper Salih at his far post. HALF TIME SCORE : 0-1.
54 mins: From an Onur goal kick Junior marked by both Zihni and Ayhan got his head to the ball, which went over the advancing Salih, but Zihni managed to get back and clear the ball off the line. Junior retrieved the ball and set up Yakup but the midfielder blasted his shot over the bar from a good position.
59 mins : Esentepe increased their lead when Efosa on the right made a good run beating a couple of defenders before finding Yakup who had run on into the box, Goalkeeper Salih only succeeded in bringing the young midfielder down. JUNIOR made no mistake with his penalty. 0-2
68 mins : A great run on the right by Uğurcan surging pass defenders before squaring the ball across to Efosa in a good position but his shot was saved by the foot of goalkeeper Salih.
Esentepe were in full control they looked dangerous whenever they attacked, especially from the right another attack should have led to another Esentepe goal in the 78th minute.
Efosa made a great run down the right squared the ball across to Junior whose shot was blocked, the ball ran to Kaan who had a shot blocked. Kaan retrieved the ball and tried his luck again only to see his effort hit the post before it was cleared.
80 mins: Binatlı broke immediately from that Esentepe attack with Jorge passing to Muammer Tip, the talented midfielder returned the pass to Jorge who saw his shot parried by Onur straight into the patch of substitute SERTAÇ to score. 1-2
Esentepe brought on defender Hasan and were quietly seeing out time, but the game ended in a fiery climax.
90 +3 mins : Esentepe took a short corner on the left with Junior holding up the ball by the corner flag, fending off Ayhan. Fellow defender Hüseyin Taşçi out of frustration went in hard on Junior who fell to the ground, as he did so he lashed out at Hüseyin with both feet catching the Binatlı player in the stomach, who fell to the ground doing a “Neymar roll”. Referee Serhan Şimsek had no option quite correctly to red card Junior. FULL TIME SCORE: 1-2
SUMMING UP: Shame about the Junior red card it took the gloss off what was a thoroughly competent and professional performance by Esentepe, who had a job to do and did it well.
The defence tightened up considerably with the war horse Şahin having a fine match, backed up by his skipper Mustafa Kiliç. Onur in goal was well protected and it was good at last to keep a clean sheet. The whole team performed well, but “Man of the Match” UĞURCAN was head and shoulders above everyone else. During the match he was played in various positions and on a warm afternoon, like his nickname “Duracell” he kept going and going!
Video highlight courtesy of Graham Procter – Brown
