By Chris Evans
Didim Efeler 09’s unbeaten start to the season came to an abrupt end on Saturday evening as it lost to Cankaya Spor, who had started the day bottom of the table. It was a sloppy and disjointed display not helped by a card-happy referee and a poor playing surface. When Didim managed to string a few passes together, they looked strong until the regular issues of failing to find the final ball to the striker prevented any clear chances. In truth, Didim never really looked threatening.
For the first ten minutes Didim looked in control of the ball, even if it was mainly passing it between the centre backs. Then, on 15 minutes, we saw an almost carbon copy of the mistake that cost 2 points in the dying seconds of last week’s home game. A hopeful, long free kick from Cankaya was allowed to bounce and cause havoc in the Didim defence. For some reason, Kemal Mert Ozyigit, the Didim goalkeeper, came racing off his line for no reason. The faintest of touches from Didim defender, Furkan Kulecki, made the situation worse as the ball looped over the keeper’s head and dropped just underneath the crossbar. Terrible defending and the kind of goal one normally sees on a Sunday league pitch.
From there, Didim fell apart. They were struggling to make a pass to a teammate. Cankaya had more energy and attacking intent. The pressing seemed to unnerve Didim. There were one or two instances of good play when they could get a string of passes together, but they were few and far between and always lacked a final ball to create a chance.
Towards the end of the half, Kemal Mert Ozyigit redeemed himself somewhat with a good reaction save from a header from a corner. Furkan Kulecki also received a yellow card, which was to become incredibly significant later.
At half-time, Didim was behind 1-0, but it could have been much worse.
Five minutes into the second half, Didim’s day was summed up as Furkan Kulecki was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for a shirt pull near the halfway line. A needless act that gave his team a mountain to climb.
Ten minutes later it felt like game over as some excellent play from Cankaya led to a shot being parried by Kemal Mert Ozyigit directly to the Cankaya striker, Sinan Akaydin, three yards out who tapped the ball into an empty net. Didim had shown nothing to give hope it could get back into the game.
The game descended into a litany of free kicks as the referee became card happy and authoritarian, ruining any chance of a football match breaking out. He gave out 9 yellow cards and the previous red. A huge number, considering it wasn’t a dirty game.
Finally, in the final few minutes, Didim attacked with intent. It was a different team than the one we’d spent the rest of the afternoon watching. If only they’d started playing earlier. On 95 minutes Didim won a corner.
It was swung to the far post where Sabutay Alper Bayulken, Didim’s best player on the day, threw himself at the ball and scored with a magnificent header. It led to a frantic last few minutes as Didim tried to get the equaliser that its performance didn’t deserve.
The final whistle blew with Cankaya winning 2-1. Not a great day for Didim Efeler 09 and certainly some work for the training ground this week. There will be better days and this one is best consigned to history with the relief the game only ended 2-1.
Didim Efeler 09 play at home against Alanya on Saturday 5 October at 4pm at the Marina Road Ataturk Stadium.