A Point A Piece. – A Fair Result For Both teams

By Richard Beale….

With Yalova in 5th place and Esentepe in 6th place, a draw was going to be the predictable score – and so it was with Yalova the better team in the first half and Esentepe having most of the play in the second half, all in all, both teams will be happy with a point.

Results: YALOVA SK 1 ESENTEPE KKSK 1

Saturday February 25, 2023: AKSA League 1 : Botsancı Tahsin Mertekçi Stadium.

Weather: Warm in the sunshine, clouding over later.

After the Turkey/ Syria earthquake disaster the League recommenced and a minute’s silence was observed before the kick-off in memory of the poor people that lost their lives in the tragedy.

Güzelyurt being around 1 hour 30 minutes from Esentepe, understandably not many supporters made the long journey, however the Under 21 team (who unfortunately lost 2-0 in their match) made up for the lack of support. The ones who did make the journey were warmly welcome by Yalova supporters with plenty of hoş geldin (welcome).

Esentepe were shocked when they conceded a poor goal in the opening minute, goalkeeper Osman completely making a hash of a clearance which went straight to a Yalova player, with Esentepe defence out of position Raif Selden crossed to the far post where an unmarked ZEKAİ SERDAR headed in to give Yalova a dream start. 1-0.

Immediately Esentepe replied with forward Melih sending a shot over the bar.

Esentepe goalkeeper Osman made amends for his earlier error making a tremendous save, arching his back, and pushing over the bar a Zekai header from a Raif corner in the 23rd minute.

Yalova were impressive with a front three of the tall Zekai, Zafer, and Raif who was playing in a more advanced position than his normal midfield role, at 42 years of age he was very prominent. With fullbacks Civan and İltaç offering support on the wings, Esentepe was too often on the back foot.

Esentepe, in contrast, was looking a little bit disjointed, Melih upfront was isolated and marked by two defenders, Semih on the right wing made little impression, and the normally all-action Emre was struggling to get into the game.

However as the half wore on in the final 10 minutes Esentepe created a couple of chances the best came in injury time when a long cross from Emek, went over Melih’s head to the far post where Mahmut up with the attack volleyed a first time shot just over the bar.

HALF TIME SCORE : 1-0.

During the interval Esentepe Coach Davut Kansu decided to make two changes, adding much-needed pace in his team with Mustafa Soytürk and leading goalscorer Deniz Kıbar (back from a hamstring injury) replacing Mahmut and Semih.

These changes soon had the desired effect with Mustafa, overlapping quite often, and Deniz, giving Melih assistance in the middle, the big striker now with only one defender on his back getting involved more.

In the 50th minute, an Emek free kick from the left went across the Yalova goalmouth just in front of the inrushing Deniz and Salih.

In the 48th minute, a brilliant Esentepe move from their own goal area almost led to an equaliser, the move involving Ege Can and Deniz, exchanging passes led to Ege chasing a through ball and he just managed to get a toe to the ball, pass the advancing Yalova goalkeeper Kivanç but unfortunately the young Esentepe forwards shot just went pass the right-hand post.

Esentepe nearly conceded another goal let down by their own undoing a wayward İlyas pass that was seized on by Zekai whose shot went just past Osmond’s left-hand post.

Esentepe continued to press and came close when in the 78th minute Emre headed just wide of the far post following a Mustafa cross.

Emre now was becoming a danger, joining the attack and bringing a great save from goalkeeper Kirvanç after Melih had headed on a Nersin cross as Esentepe was dominating the play.

In the 80th minute, Esentepe almost shot themselves in the foot again, when another miss-kicked clearance from Osman went straight to Yasin faced with an empty net, with the Esentepe keeper scrambling to get back to protect his goal, luckily for him the Yalova player sent his shot just past the left-hand post.

A let-off for Esentepe and Yalova were made to pay dearly for their miss in the 87th minute when following a Mustafa cross from the right, headed on by Melih to Emre Mutlu whose shot was parried by goalkeeper Kivanç at close range, the ball ended up at the near post where it was put in by DENİZ KIBAR, despite Yalova protests for offside the goal stood, for a deserved Esentepe equaliser.

FULL-TIME SCORE : 1-1.

SUMMING UP: A deserved point, a fair result, good tactical changes by Davut at halftime, injecting pace into the team. Yalova is always a difficult place to get anything from, though Esentepe has a very good record there.

ESENTEPE MAN OF THE MATCH: DEVRAN GÜNEŞ – another good performance from the young defender, who rarely put a foot wrong, and was very decisive with his challenges and tackles.

ESENTEPE TEAM: Osman(gk) : Mahmut İzoğlu (Mustafa 46), Şenol (Nersin 46), DEVRAN, Emek © : Tuğra (Ilyas 62) : Salih, Emre Ege Can : Semih (Deniz 46), Melih.

Replacements not used —-Ulaş (gk), Hüseyin, Okan, Şahin, Mahmut Şen.

YALOVA TEAM: Kıvanç (gk) – Civan, Sergülen, Hasip, İltaç Yasin, Metin (Hamdi 80), Raif (Muhammed 65), Zafer Emre (İbrahim 80), Özcan (Tayip 46), Zekai.

Yellow cards – Civan, Hasip, Zafer Emre, (Yalova). Osmond (Esentepe).

Referee – Utku Hamamcıoğlu – match. kept the match flowing, got most decisions correct.