By Richard Beale….
Second place Esentepe kept the pressure on leaders Gençlik Gücü with a battling 1-0 win over 6th placed Düzkaya.
Details: ESENTEPE KKSK U21 1 DÜZKAYA KOSK U21 0.
Saturday, March 20: AKSA U21 League 1: Esentepe Erdal Barut Stadium
Though leaders Gençlik Gücü also won 1-0, and are 9 points ahead of Esentepe, it’s not all over they say “until the fat lady sings”. Esentepe are snapping on the heels of the leaders ready for any slip-up, with 7 games to go, 21 points left to play for, there is hope.
This was a whole Esentepe team effort, no outstanding individuals everyone contributed in one way or another.
The only goal of the game was scored in the 42nd minute when a superb ball from Atakan Kar saw ŞAHIN ERDOĞAN just win a race to the ball with the Düzkaya goalkeeper Veysel, the Esentepe striker managed to squeeze the ball in despite a valiant effort to clear the ball on the line by a defender.
Düzkaya goalkeeper Veysel produced a couple of good saves in the second half as Esentepe could not find that killer second goal to seal the match.
Esentepe did not help themselves in the 81st minute when midfielder Gökdeniz Soytürk was red-carded for a scuffle in the middle of the park, surprisingly the Düzkaya player also involved in the altercation got away scot-free.
In injury time Düzkaya almost equalised when following a free kick, with their goalkeeper up for the kick his opposite number Ulaş, who had little to do during the match produced a brilliant diving save from a snap shot. FULL TIME SCORE: 1-0
