By Richard Beale….

It took until injury time for Esentepe to finally secure the 3 points to dispatch 4th place Çanakkale and celebrate an early Christmas present in the last home match of the year.

Result: ESENTEPE KKSK 3 DEMS. CONS ÇANAKKALE TSK 0

Saturday December 23, 2023 ; AKSA League 1 ; Esentepe Erdal Barut Stadium

Weather ; Cold, Sunny occasional cloud.

Shame the last home game of the year, resulted in a disappointing crowd, very few making the journey from Famagusta but at least there was a good ex pat turnout again.

Esentepe in second place, Çanakkale in 4th place, Esentepe though not at their best, their togetherness, team spirit and hard work overcame a very disappointing Çanakkale side. The visitors rarely troubled Osman in the home goal, who really only had to deal with a couple of crosses. Despite taking an early lead, Esentepe did not make the game safe until injury time, the visitors though limited in their opportunities still could have snatched an equaliser.

After overnight and early morning rain the pitch was tacky and cut up in some places by the Under 21 match played before this game.

Esentepe first goal came in the 16th minute following a long throw in by Tuğra finding EMRE MUTLU who had time to turn and pick his spot shooting past goalkeeper Yusuf 1-0

Esentepe were the more enterprising team Tuğra miss hit a shot across goal just in front of the inrushing Yusuf in the 38th minute.

Esentepe were working hard for each other without really dominating the match, the visitors offered little though Ekrem in midfield was prominent for them.

 HALF TIME SCORE: 0-0

Emre in the 48th minute brought a good save from Yusuf, who pushed the ball away to the edge of the box where Deniz appeared to brought down but Esentepe appeals for a penalty were brushed aside by referee Emre.

The hard working Yusuf did good work on the left finding Tuğra whose low shot went past the left hand post.

Esentepe Ahmet Avcısoyu who had put in an energetic performance suddenly pulled up with what appeared to be a hamstring injury was replaced by Ege Can in the 56th minute.

From the 60th minute Çanakkale had what was their best spell of the match forcing a couple of corners and putting over a couple of crosses that were dealt effectively by goalkeeper Osman.

With the match coming in to its final quarter, Esentepe could not still put the game to bed, Barin shot over the bar for the visitors who were still in with an outside chance to equalise.

Esentepe stepped up their game in the final 10 minutes and should have scored a second, good work by the replacements İlyas, Ege Can and Semih gave Yusuf a chance whose shot was pushed for a corner by his namesake Yusuf.

87 minutes İlyas on the left found Semih who went to the byline cutting the ball back to Mehmet Ada who miss hit his shot straight at Yusuf.

89 minutes Ilyas finding Mehmet Ada on the right his cross was met by Ege Can who should have scored but shot straight at Yusuf.

Right on injury time Esentepe finally made the game safe, İlyas who was very prominent since coming on combined with Emek to find Ege Can on the byline who turned it across to SEMIH ARSLAN to stoop down and head home. 2-0

With the last kick of the match Yusuf and Emek combined to set up SEMIH ARSLAN to shoot into the net to score his second goal in two minutes.

FULL TIME SCORE: 3-0.

 SUMMING UP: Esentepe march on now opening up a 7 point gap between them and third place Yalova. With one match remaining before the mid-season break Esentepe have had a remarkable first half to the season doing well to keep tabs with the ‘Champions elect” Değirmenlik.

This was a hardworking team performance, each player working for each other. Nersin and Oğuz snuffed out any Çanakkale threat. TUĞRA in midfield was immense all over the pitch, breaking up attacks, winning balls in midfield and prompting the attack. Çanakkale who have some good players didn’t turn up, they weren’t at the races, a disappointing performance.

ESENTEPE TEAM: Osman(gk) ; Mahmut (Mehmet Ada 67), Nersin (c), Oğuz, Emek : TUĞRA, Emre, (Semih 80), Salih : Ali (Ege Can 58) ; Deniz (Semih 80), Yusuf.

Esentepe replacements not used: Onur (gk), Okan, Şahin, Burak, Dinçer, Gökdeniz.

 Çanakkale: YUSUF (gk) ; Mustafa Gok, Sami, Orhan, Çagdaş, Anıljan (Uvanç 73), Ekrem, Rifat (Mustafa Kızıl 46), Yunus, Malik Sercan ( Hasan Çağakan 46), Barın (Erol 88).

Yellow cards: Emre (Esentepe) ;

Referee: Emre Öztaşlı - excellent match, has a way with the players and defuses situations, willing to share a joke with them and also the crowd and he is a top class official.

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https://cyprusscene.com/2023/12/26/3-point-esentepe-seniors-christmas-present/