By Richard Beale …..
New Technical Director KİLİÇ ALİ KAHRAMAN got off to a winning start in his first game in charge as Esentepe deservedly overcame bottom but one side Bostancı Bağcıl.
Result : BOSTANCI BAĞCIL SK 1 ESENTEPE KKSK 2
Saturday February 8, 2020: K-Pet League 1 : Bostancı Bağcıl Stadium.
This was a vital win for Esentepe, with all due respects to Bağcıl this is a match that the visitors would have expected to win and target 3 points. Esentepe have some tough and hard matches coming up so the 3 points were very welcome.
Kiliç Ali who took over on Tuesday has had little time to assess the team, but he must have been impressed by the side who tried to play football in trying conditions.
A biting cold wind, enough to cut you in two, was behind Esentepe in the first half. The low temperatures had a marked affect on the gate with only around 25 spectators and 2 dogs being present, controlled by at least 20 Policemen! Only 8 brave souls, including 4 Expats made the 80 minute trip to Güzelyurt.
Esentepe were hit by injuries to key players Goalkeeper Onur and their Captain Vurkan, Görkem Karal took over from Onur making his first senior appearance at League level with Yakup taking over the captaincy making it a first for him.
Both teams struggled to master the trying conditions, in a poor first half. Little was seen of the Bağcil attack, Esentepe produced a couple of shots that went wide. Bağcıl would be the happier of the two teams battling against the wind as the first half came to a close, HALF TIME SCORE : 0-0.
Ali Kaharaman was quite active on the touchline trying to encouraging his team, like all TRNC Coaches he also possesses the usual “Cyprus shrug”!
Luckily for Esentepe the breeze had abated a little as the visitors continued to try and keep the ball on the deck rather than “hoof it “upfield.
They took the lead in the 56th minute with a well worked goal, Uğurcan overlapping made progress into the area, cut to the byline before sending in a low cross that was clinically finished by ERAY. 0-1
62 minutes and it was 2-0, Esentepe broke quickly from a Bağcıl corner, with Kaan on the left leading the charge. The winger spotted ŞÜKRÜ unmarked in the middle and he went on to slot the ball over the advancing Gültekin. The talent has never been in doubt with Şükrü, this season he has become more steady in front of goal, and he has started scoring vital goals. 0-2
Left ERAY (red) opens the scoring for Esentepe and right ŞÜKRÜ adds the second
78 minutes Bağcıl goalkeeper Gültekin made a good blocking save at his far post, to prevent Eray hooking the ball in.
With 10 minutes remaining Bağcıl, at last, exerted some pressure on the Esentepe goal, debutant Goalkeeper Görkem had a relatively quiet match up to now.
Goal celebrations !
87 minutes A mix up in the Esentepe defence with defenders thinking it was a goalkeeper’s ball and likewise the goalkeeper thinking it was a defenders ball enabled substitute MUSTAFA GARDIYANOĞLU to get the faintest of touches with his head to pull a goal back. 1-2
With 4 minutes of added on time being played Görkem who had collected a corner under pressure was bundled into the net by Kaan and Zekai, but quite rightly referee Isendiyar ruled the goal out for a foul on the goalkeeper. FULL TIME SCORE : 1-2
SUMMING UP : A deserved win and a hard working team performance. Defender ŞAHIN ŞEKER was my “Man of the Match” giving a typical wholehearted performance making all his experience count helping teenage defender Gürkan Demir and ensuring goalkeeper Görkem had a relatively easy debut.
