By Richard Beale….
Kaplıca Karadeniz 61 stormed into Sunday’s final play- off round, blowing away the challenge of Pınarbaşı in a convincing victory.
Result: KAPLICA KARADENIZ 61 SK 6 Pınarbaşı ÇSK 1
Wednesday, August 3: Iktisatbank BTM League 2 First Play Off: Catalkoy Nihat Bağcıer Stadium.
Weather: Bloody hot!
Kaplıca had brushed aside Pınarbaşı by the interval of the second half they overrun their opponents with a relentless display of attacking football who in the end just wanted their season to finish.
So after 11 matches, 990 minutes of football Pınarbaşı’s journey has now ended, playoff defeats are horrible, I have seen my teams suffering a similar fate many times. Though cruel hopefully Pınarbaşı will learn from this experience, regroup and come back stronger next season.
I must mention the Pınarbaşı Goalkeeper FİRKET HACIYARIM as he didn’t deserve to be on the losing side and concede 6 goals. He pulled off a string of incredible saves, some were “World class”, he was let down by his defenders, without him the defeat would have been more. Short for a goalkeeper, he is very agile and should be playing at a higher standard of football.
Kaplıca they are an ambitious club, they want success and they have built a powerful squad with very few weaknesses. They tasted (whenever it was, pre-Covid after Covid), defeat in a Play-Off Final before, they know how it feels, the pain, the sorrow, the hurt they are determined not to let this happen again.
Sunday’s Final in Famagusta against an equally talented team SFC Boğaziçi “should be a cracker“.
The early kick-off 5-00 pm (because in the event of extra time, penalties) certainly affected the players in the first half, under a boiling sun the tempo was below normal.
Kaplıca supporters who outnumbered their counterparts were noisy, and loud and were rewarded seeing their team run out easy winners.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:
8 mins: A simple opening goal for Kaplıca a short pass across goal by Ekrem, found “goal king” BERKANT ISTANBULL lurking at the far post, with the Pınarbaşı defence missing he had the simple task of putting the ball in the net. 1-0.
21 mins: Kaplıca Eray lost possession of the ball just outside his own area to Hüseyin Köle, he tracked back but brought down the Pibarbasi player in the area. ADNAN KİRAZ made no mistake from the penalty spot sending Alihan the wrong way.
30 mins: After a tremendous scrabble in the Pınarbaşı box Ekrem Aktaş cracked a shot against the right-hand post that rebounded to safety.
44 mins: Pınarbaşı Captain and central defender Mehmet Kanat brought down EKREM ATKAŞ in the box, the Kaplıca player got up and scored with the resultant penalty. HALF TIME: 2-1
46 mins: After 3 incredible saves, like a pinball machine, Firket diving to his left, right, and left again to save point blank range shots, the ball eventually was retrieved by OGÜN DURSUN who smashed the ball home through a crowd of players. 3-1
62 mins: A cross from the left by Uğur found EKREM AKTAŞ unmarked at the far post, to score – Pınarbaşı heads had now dropped, the towel was thrown in – game over. 4-1
64 mins; Not that Goalkeeper Firket had thrown in the towel, again he pulled off two brilliant saves from Ekrem and Ogün in quick succession, afterwards he quite rightly berated his defence for giving him no protection.
75 mins: A simple 5th goal scored by substitute AHMET CAN TOKMAK, put through on the right, and going round Firket to score. 5-1
88 mins: The final nail in the Pınarbaşı coffin, a low cross, on the right by Ahmet Can found the yet again unmarked BERKANT ISTANBULL to score his second goal and his 12th goal of the season. FULL TIME SCORE; 6-1
PINARBAŞI “Man of the Match” FİRKET HACIYARIM.
KAPLICA KARADENIZ 61 “Man of the Match” EKREM ATKAŞ.
PLAY OFF FINAL :
Sunday August 7th : kick off 7-00pm : Famagusta Dr Fazil Küçük Stadium.
KAPLICA KARADENIZ 61 v SFC BOĞAZİÇİ SK.
