By Richard Beale….

This came as no surprise, it was no shock for the fourth consecutive season Esentepe were bundled out of the Kıbrıs Cup 1st round, it fact they were swept aside by a very impressive Miracle Karşıyaka team.

Results: MIRACLE KARŞIYAKA ASK 4 ESENTEPE KKSK 0

Saturday January 20th, 2024: Northernland Kıbrıs Cup 1st Round : Karşıyaka Şengül Törehan Stadium.

Not bad support for Esentepe considering this was not a League match around 40 souls making the journey on a sunny mild afternoon.

8 first round matches were played between Super League and League 1 teams today and only one League 1 team has survived and that is Miracle Değirmenlik who is virtually a Super League Club, the “Champions Elect” backed by the same rich sponsors as Karşıyaka..

The gap between Super League and League 1 is immense in terms of player quality, talent, skill, fitness, and resources and so in this match Esentepe found out to their cost.

Esentepe's small squad had already been decimated through injuries by Mahmut, Devran, Ali, Ege Can, and Deniz and now they have lost permanently their best player of the season Yusuf Oyıt who sustained a knee injury in last week’s pointless friendly against Dumlupinar and now requires an operation and has returned to Turkey. With Mahmut Izoğlu suffering a similar injury in another friendly match you question the reason why we have to have a mid-season break.

In fairness to the Club, they have reacted by signing EFE ÇOPUR, as a replacement for Yusuf. Further transfers are midfield/attacker BURAK KARABACAK from Maraş and they have recalled fullback MUSTAFA SOYTÜRK from his loan spell with Karşıyaka.

Even in this match, Esentepe’s injury woes continued with forward Semih Arslan pulling up just before the break in what looks like a hamstring problem.

This game was over as a contest by the 30th minute, Esentepe were overrun, outgunned, and outclassed by their superior opponents and to make matters worse all 4 goals were gifted to them by sloppy defending.

Karşıyaka African players ASSANE DIATTA and BILLY MICHAEL were too much of a handful for Esentepe, they have a wonderful understanding between them and with midfielders BURAK KOÇAR and TOYKAN HACET dominating the midfield Esentepe were pinned inside their own half in the opening 45 minutes.

Changes were made for Esentepe at the break with a limited replacement bench and for the opening 15 minutes of the second period, the visitors enjoyed their best spell of the match. However, that was ruined by a calamitous error by goalkeeper Osman resulting in a 4th soft goal for Karşıyaka.

Şahin Erdoğan came on as a second-half replacement and produced Esentepe's best chance in the 73rd minute fastening onto a long ball he shrugged off his marker and hit a first-time volley that had the Karşıyaka goalkeeper Erdoğan flying across his goal to push the shot around for a corner.

New striker Efe Çopur who only signed yesterday, flying in from Turkey and having not trained with the team before, came on as a second-half replacement and showed some good touches. In the 78th minute, he created room for himself and hit a shot that again had Erdoğan diving to his right to push the ball around for a corner. From that resultant corner taken by Emek, Okan got in a powerful header but straight into the arms of the goalkeeper.

As Karşıyaka made changes Esentepe tried to get some reward for a spirited second-half performance and should have got a consolation goal in the 81st minute when Şahin was fouled in the box. Up stepped “my trusty left foot” Emek who always scores from the spot but to cap a miserable day for Esentepe his penalty was saved by goalkeeper Erdoğan.

GOALS :

11 mins: A corner from the right taken by Toykan was headed in with a glancing header from MUSTAFA SÜZGEN, with Esentepe's defence gone missing. 1-0

23 mins; Another simple goal Billy Michael given too much room on the left squared the ball across for BURAK KOÇAR to side foot in. 2-0

29 mins; Again diabolical defending by Esentepe a low hard cross from Billy Michael was put into his own net by Mustafa Soytürk, scoring against his old loan club. 3-0

60 mins; A comedy of errors again Osman played the ball out to Oğuz who was robbed by ASSANE DIATTA who went on to score. This is not the first time this has happened Esentepe trying to play the ball out - they are not Liverpool or Manchester City!

ESENTEPE TEAM: Osman (gk) - Mustafa ,Oğuz, Mehmet Ada (Okan 63), Emek (c) - Tuğra, Emre, İlyas ( Efe 46) , Salih ( Burak Tümkan 72), Burak Karabacak (Gökdeniz 80) - Semih (Şahin 46),

Replacements not used - Ulaş (gk)

MİRACLE KARŞIYAKA TEAM - Erdoğan (gk) - İlker İnceler (Mehmet 70), İlker Tek, Sena, Azat (Aksel 60), Ahmet Hatay, Mustafa, Assane ( Ahmet Kara 70), Toykan ( Behiç 60), Burak (Sertan 60), Billy Mıchael.

Referee - Evren Karademir - good match.

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https://cyprusscene.com/2024/01/21/esentepe-bundled-out-of-the-cup/