GEÇİTKALE GSK going for the ball
By Richard Beale….
A 48th minute goal by Çanakkale Captain YUNUS KALAYCI, gave the Famagusta side a hard-fought victory in the opening round of the BTM League 1 season.
Result: GEÇİTKALE GSK 0 ÇANAKKALE TSK 1.
Saturday 4th December: BTM League 1 Red Group : Gecitkale Stadium.
This morning was beautiful mild and sunny, I asked myself shall I do some gardening? shall I do some DIY?, Didn’t think for long, NO there’s always gardening and DIY to do, one more day won’t make a difference. Instead with a 10-30 am kick off, I chose to watch one of the opening matches of the BTM League 1 season ( League 3 in the TRNC), mainly for village clubs I chose to go to Gecitkale only around 30-40 minutes away from Esentepe.
When I entered the ground, I thought it was rather apt that they tannoy system was playing Stings “An Englishman in New York”, I thought maybe should be “An Englishman in Gecitkale “! would be more suited. I later learned after the match enjoying my 30 TL beer in the Gecitkale Belediyse Cafe that an English woman was also there watching the match with her Turkish friend.
Geçitkale have invested heavily in the transfer market, they want promotion no doubt about it to the AKSA League 1, signing well known players in TRNC football MEHMET CAVUŞ, IRFAN BOSNAK, MUSTAFA ARNAVUT. With existing players GÜRCAN GÜNGÖR, HÜSEYİN ÖZBİLEN and TANJU KAYA, they on paper have the makings of a team that will walk away with the League.
Football is not played on paper however and it was Çanakkale who turned “party poopers” and overall, in a very hard fought match, with no quarter given or taken, they were the better team, and had the better chances and deserved to win.
The tackling was fierce, ferocious, by both sides, littered with free kicks but referee SERKAN ÖZDENKCİ “set his stall out early”, playing the advantage rule and surprisingly there were no bookings.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:
15 mins: Good work on the right by Mustafa Arnavut getting to the by-line before sending in a low cross that was met by Irfan but straight into the arms of goalkeeper Alihan.
36 mins: Çanakkale striker Tolga let fly from outside the box forcing the Gecitkale goalkeeper Gürcan to save diving to his left.
37 mins: Çanakkale best chance came when Barış Dolu sent over a near post cross from the right, that Tolga managed to get a foot to just ahead of Gürcan but the effort went just wide.
48 mins: A superbly worked goal by Çanakkale, Tolga played a brilliant reverse pass that Captain YUNUS KALAYCI ran onto to beat Gürcan. 0-1
62 mins: Çanakkale 70 missed a great chance for his side screwing his shot past the left-hand post.
64 mins: Çanakkale continued to look dangerous in breakaways, Yunus retrieving a helpless cause, found Tolga who’s cross from the by-line was met by Faruk at the far post, which had Gürcan diving to his left to save.
69 mins: A rare chance for Geçitkale with a long free kick into the box was back headed by Irfan forcing Alihan into a good save tipping the ball over for a corner.
72 mins: Faruk fastened onto poor Gecitkale pass finding Yunus on the right and his low cross was met at the near post by Tolga who shot just wide of the left-hand post.
FULL TIME SCORE 0-1
SUMMING UP: Disappointing start for Geçitkale the battle is lost the war is not, they will be front runners as the season progresses, this was a wakeup call.
Çanakkale relegated from the AKSA League 1 last season, battled hard, they have set a marker for future matches, they also will be thereabouts.
GEÇİTKALE – MAN OF THE MATCH ——ÇAĞDAŞ ÇEVİK —-very strong and secure in defence forming a good partnership with Tanju.
ÇANAKKALE – MAN OF THE MATCH ——TOLGA KARA – very skilful always a threat upfront.
