By Richard Beale ……
For the second game in succession Group 2 leaders Karadeniz struggled initially against lowly opposition but in the end the tactical changes made by Coach Vural Köseğul eventually paid off to enable them to finish comfortable winners.
Result : CİVİSİL SK 1 KARADENIZ 61 SB 3
Saturday September 5th : BTM League 2, Group 2 : Iskele Cumhuriyet Stadium
Karadeniz were missing several key players for various reasons as Civisil made mockery of their lowly position and were quicker and more alert as Karadeniz appeared to be suffering from a hangover.
Playing with 3 central defenders, nullifying Karadeniz top goalscorer Mehmet Turgut and employing two wing backs Uğur Argın and 7 Ümit Yazıcı, Civisil took a deserved lead in the 17th minute when a quick breakaway down the left saw the lightning quick REŞAT KORKMAZ cut inside and beat goalkeeper Yasın with a low shot. 1-0
Karadeniz Coach Vural, saw that Plan A wasn’t working made an early tactical decision in the 18th minute hauling off Eray Genç and bringing on Uğur Ertem, with full back Ekrem switching to the right wing.
The switch seemed to have made some improvement as Uğur pushing forward built up a good understanding with Ekrem on the right.
Match Action Karadeniz on the attack in the Red/blue shirts
Karadeniz in the opening 40 minutes only threatened the Civisil goal from a number of free kicks in dangerous positions, it wasn’t until the last 5 minutes of the half that Karadeniz looked like scoring.
Ogün had a free kick near the touchline pushed away by the diving Civisil goalkeeper Uğur who looked to have been carrying an injury that the save only made worse.
However he stood no chance with a splendid goal by MEHMET TURGUT, even though closely marked by three defenders he turned and smashed an unstoppable shot past the hapless goalkeeper. HALF TIME SCORE : 1-1
At half time the Karadeniz Coach Vural had his clipboard out again discarding Plan B and now onto Plan C
During the break Goalkeeper Uğur was unable to continue and was replaced by Batuhan, whose first job of the second half was to pick the ball out of his net before he even touched the ball! In the 47th minute Mehmet Turgut was brought down in a dangerous position just outside the box. KORAY KELEŞ free kick went over the wall and dipped under the bar past a rooted Batuhan. 1-2
50 minutes Batuhan still hadn’t touched the ball before he was picking the ball out of the net again, this time following a good run down the right by Ekrem whose looping cross hit the crossbar and bounced into the path of an unmarked MEHMET TURGUT to head in a simple goal. 1-3 Karadeniz therefore scored 3 goals in 5 minutes against two different goalkeepers and the match was virtually over as a contest. 1-3
51 minutes and at last Batuhan touched the ball as Mehmet Turgut swivelled inside the box and sent a shot that cannoned off the right hand post and straight into the arms of the grateful goalkeeper.
In fact that was the last and only time that Batuhan would touch the ball as in the 60th minute he was replaced by a third goalkeeper Muzaffer Dal, in all my years having watched football have I seen 3 Goalkeepers used!
He was in action straight away as Ekrem burst into the box and sent a powerful shot that the goalkeeper did well to block.
Civisil were now a shadow of the team that competed in the opening 40 minutes and rarely threatened the group leaders goal.
Mehmet Turgut should have completed his hat trick in the 70th minute as good work on the right again by Ekrem finding Ogün inside the box whose shot could only be parried by the diving Muzaffer straight into the path of Mehmet who somehow shot wide of an open goal.
With Tuesday’s vital match against second place Ötüken in mind Coach Vural made a number of changes to give players a rest after two matches in 4 days played in sweltering conditions.
Karadeniz played out the final quarter of the match without any scares and it ended with both teams giving Covid handshakes in a match played in good spirit.
SUMMING UP
Full marks to Coach Vural for seeing that his tactics were not working and he was brave enough to change things around during the game. It is a testament to the Karadeniz team that they can adapt to change of tactics.
