By Richard Beale….

The first match after the short winters break, with a much depleted side, Esentepe came away with a useful away point in a very scrappy match.

Result : M HACIALİ YILMAZKÖY SK 1 ESENTEPE KKSK 1

Saturday January 27, 2024; AKSA League 1; Yilmazköy Mustafa Üçöz Stadium.

Sunny, slight breeze.

Both teams should be happy with a point, I predicted this score in my pre-match, both teams have strong defences, and both teams have only been beaten twice so a draw was the obvious outcome.

Esentepe missing at least 6 players through injury and suspension will be satisfied with a fought-away point in a match that did not live up to expectations. Both teams cancelled each other out, two strong defensive teams, were the winners in a match played in midfield mainly, resulting in very few goal opportunities.

6 ex-pats members of the EFES Army made the journey and thoroughly enjoyed their pre-match meal at the 3 Öz Meat Restaurant next to the Stadium.

The pitch after the recent rains was tacky in places and the goalmouth that Esentepe was defending had a lovely muddy puddle in it.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

2 mins: Esentepe Deniz on the right did well to beat his marker and made progress to the byline before crossing across the goal with no Esentepe player managing to get a final touch.

10 mins; Yılmazköy took an early lead thanks to sloppy Esentepe defending allowing Barış on the left to find MEHMET DULKADIR to shoot past a rooted Osman 1-0

16 mins; The bobbled around the Esentepe area before being partially cleared to Suat Varip who fired just over the bar.

The match was failing to ignite, with two strong defences, and few goal threats. The match was also littered with fouls, with players going down too easily trying to con the referee with theatrical diving.

HALF TIME SCORE: 1-0

Esentepe started the second half much better, a free kick on the right taken by Burak went over all the players to the far post, where İlyas got a touch to the ball but not enough to score from.

59th mins. Tuğra took a throw-in on the left finding İlyas holding the ball up well before finding EFE ÇOPUR who had time to control the ball and shot past goalkeeper Hüseyin to score on his Esentepe league debut. 1-1

Esentepe were enjoying their best spell of the match in the opening 15 minutes of the second half.

The match continued to disappoint however with players seemed quite content to make the most of falling down at the slightest contact.

Nothing really happened in the second half, with both goalkeepers commanding their areas, and dealing with crosses, resulting in very little goals out action.

Efe Çopur on his Esentepe debut showed some nice touches and was more effective in the second half when he was switched into the middle, scoring a well taken goal. EMRE MUTLU though not back to his “all action “ style had his best match of the season so far, putting in the hard miles.

ESENTEPE TEAM: Osman (gk), Mehmet, Oğuz, Mehmet Ada, Emek (c) : Tuğra, EMRE, İlyas (Salih 76) , Burak, Deniz, Efe.

 Esentepe replacements; Ulaş, Can (gk’s), Okan, Burak Tümkan. Gökdeniz, Ibrahim Halil.

YILMAZKOY TEAM; Hüseyin (gk); Mehmet Ince, CHRISLIN; Salih, Mehmet Söker, Ersal (Ceren 75), Tarkan, (Osman 60),Barış, Mehmet Dulkadır (Özner 90), Yunus Emre, Suat (Mentes 60)

Yellow cards: Salih, Ceren, (Yilmazkoy ): Emek, Oğuz, Deniz

Referee: Huseyin Eyyüpler - got conned at times by players feigning injury but didn’t have a bad match,

To see more pictures please visit my Facebook page
https://cyprusscene.com/2024/01/29/good-away-point-for-esentepe/