Another damn away draw

Sometimes things just don't go your way. Balls hitting the post, amazing reactions (or just plain luck) from the opposition keeper. Aggghhh.

Selcuklu Belediyespor 34 - 34 Genclerbirligi

Our merry band of supporters.

I didn't to watch the Genclerbirligi - Kasimpasa match on the telly. Didn't even get to listen to it on the radio thanks to the road between Ankara and Konya being a radio-dead zone.

We were on the road to Konya in order to take part in the first ever away road trip by supporters of the Genclerbirligi handball team.

Lots and lots of fun and one hell of a match. The Selcuklu handball salon is top class, just across the road from the new Konya stadium on the outskirts of town and conveniently located near all the Tekel shops.

There were 18 of us. Mainly Karakizil fans but also a couple of Alkaralar. Whilst we were certainly outnumbered by the home fans, who mostly seemed to be relatives of the players, we were not outsung. Possibly out of shock as the Karakizil fans sang their Gencler versions of classic leftist political songs, the couple of elderly police officers at the match called in reinforcements.

They weren't needed of course... except at the very end when the home fans almost rioted. It was bizarre and none of us understood what had happened. It was later explained to me.

The score was 34-34, just a second left in the match. Literally! Just one. Selcuklu had the ball and they scored, home crowd erupts and the referee says "no goal", ruling instead that a foul had been committed by Gencler and therefore play had stopped at that exact point. Anything afterwards did not count... ie. the ball going into our net.

Setting up before the match.

As I said the home crowd of youngsters and lots of teyzeler went ballistic. Selcuklu had a "free throw" (or whatever you call it) and because there was no time left on the clock all the player could do was throw at goal with all our players forming a wall just a metre away from him. He missed of course and we all breathed a sigh of relief.                  

We then went off to get some pides and stocked up on refreshments and had a wonderfully boozy trip home. Great fun.

Kasimpasa 2 - 2 Genclerbirligi

I did later see the goals and some of the highlights from the football and it seemed like quite a good match, with some good attacking stuff from Gencler. We have to tighten up around the back though. We are so sorely missing a wall like Aykut used to be.