By Richard Beale….

Was it too many Christmas Pud, maybe it was too warm of an afternoon, a large playing area or was it simply that Binatlı were the better team and wanted to win it more? I was told that this was by far Binatlı’s best performance of the season and I can tell you this was Esentepe's worst performance of the season.

Result: BİNATLI YSK 2 ESENTEPE KKSK 1

Thursday December 29, 2023 ; AKSA League 1: Güzelyurt Üner Berkalp Stadium.

Weather: Warm and sunny.

A long journey to Güzelyurt is even longer when you lose and your team plays poorly.

Still around 20 plus and 8 ex-pats turned out to support the team, and being a work day the attendance was low maybe no more than 100 people inside the large stadium so there was no atmosphere.

The home team looked “pumped up” straightaway whereas Esentepe looked nervous especially at the back making individual errors notably when trying to play the ball from a goal kick Ala Premiership etc.

After only 5 minutes a cross from the right from Hüseyin was met by the head of Aziz, getting there before goalkeeper Osman but his header went narrowly wide.

11 minutes Cenkay got in a cross finding Tahir who in a good position looked certain to score but a last ditched tackle from Nersin prevented the opportunity.

Abdurrahman was active on both flanks and received a good cross-field pass from Tahir on the right, he got to the by-line, and his cross was fumbled by Osman to Cenkay, but the goalkeeper desperately managed to recover and block the shot.

Esentepe “were all over the shop”, Osman trying to play the ball out to a teammate only succeeded in giving the ball to Aziz who found Cenkay, who was prevented from scoring by another last-ditch tackle this time from Oğuz, with Nersin completing the clearance.

Esentepe was overrun in midfield with Semih often dropping back to help his midfielders, but this left Deniz isolated often surrounded by 2-3 defenders.

A neutral watching this match would have thought it was Binatlı who was in second place and Esentepe struggling in 13th place. Where has this Binatlı team been hiding all season?

The goal that has been threatening came in the 29th minute a quick Aziz throw in on the left caught Esentepe off guard, Abdurrahman got to the by-line made progress towards the goal before picking out CENKAY YARISAN to score from close in 1-0.

Esentepe was no threat on goal, and Erdem, Tahir, and Mehmet were dominating the midfield Plan A was not working.

HALF TIME SCORE: 1-0

As in previous matches, Esentepe Coach Davut Kansu doesn’t hesitate in making changes during the interval he hauled off the ineffective Emre, Semih, and Salih replacing them with Ege Can, İlyas and Mehmet Ada - Plan B was in operation.

49th minute Plan B had been shattered due to a “rush of blood” by goalkeeper Osman. With no immediate threat on goal, he came rushing out of his goal to the right of his area “barging over” Erdem leaving referee Osman no option but to award a penalty. ABDURRAHMAN BENGİ subsequently put away the resultant penalty sending Osman the wrong way - a stupid, unnecessary goal to concede. 2-0

Things got worse for Esentepe in the 63rd minute when following some strong challenges Captain Nersin Osman was red-carded for what I am told swearing at an opponent.

Esentepe was in total disarray Plan A, B, and C had failed, and Binatlı continued to dominate.

67 minutes following a free kick that led to “ping pong” in the Esentepe goal, Aziz fired over from a great position.

In 69 minutes Aziz continued to be a “ thorn in Esentepe's side” forcing Osman to palm over a shot.

Deniz upfront was still isolated getting poor or non-existent service and becoming increasingly frustrated.

A cross from the right was only partially cleared to the edge of the box by Mehmet Ada, to Tahir who hit a vicious volley that brought a good save from Osman.

83 minutes Ahmet hit a rasping drive that hit the angle of the crossbar and post, Esentepe having no answer to the home team dominance.

90 minutes at last DENİZ KIBAR was fed the right ammunition fastening onto a long ball he beat his marker and then the advancing Uğur to pull one back for Esentepe. 2-1

With injury time being played Esentepe almost snatched an undeserved equaliser Yusuf trying a lob from just outside the area that Uğur (who had nothing to do all match) managed to push the effort over the bar for a corner.

From that corner, everybody was in the box, including goalkeeper Osman, Mehmet Ada took the corner, a long one to the far post where İlyas got a header in but it was scrambled away with difficulty by a couple of defenders.

FULL-TIME SCORE: 2-1

SUMMING UP: We can’t be too critical of the team they have had a great season so far. If you had been offered before the start of the season that by the halfway stage you would be in second place, with a 7-point cushion over the 3rd place team you would have snapped your hand off.

It's a shame we couldn’t increase the cushion and take the momentum into the New Year. Binatli deserved their win, they wanted more than Esentepe, this hopefully was a “blip” a “one-off”. Too many players were off their game with only Oğuz and Nersin anywhere in their normal form.

ESENTEPE TEAM: Osman (gk), Mahmut (Okan 72), OĞUZ, Nersin (c), Emek (Şahin 76). Tuğra, Salih (Ilyas 46), Emre (Mehmet Ada 46) ; Semih (Ege Can 46), Deniz, Yusuf.

Replacements not used: Can (gk), Gökdeniz, Burak, Dinçer, Ali.

BINATLI TEAM: Uğur (gk), MALIK YAKUBA, Hüseyin, Erdem, Mehmet, Kutluhan, Tahir (Şahan), Yusuf, Aziz, (Ahmet 81), Şenkay (Nazım), Abdurrahman.

 Red card: Nersin (Esentepe 63)

 Yellow cards: Tahir, Erdem, Aziz, Cenkay (Binatlı) Oğuz, Tuğra, Salih (Esentepe)

 Referee: Osman Özpaşa - good first half letting play flow but opposite in the second half dishing out yellow cards.

To see more pictures please visit my Facebook page
https://cyprusscene.com/2023/12/30/did-esentepe-kksk-have-a-christmas-hangover/