By Chris Evans – Didim Efeler 09’s third head coach of the season, Ibrahim Nadir Arikan, continued the wait for the first home win of his tenure as his team fell to a disappointing defeat against ten-man Osmaniyespor on Saturday.
A small home crowd was drowned out by a vocal away following. It was nice to see a group of expats at the game in the sunshine supporting the local team.
Expats watching on
The first 30 minutes of the contest ranked as the worst football seen in the Ataturk Stadium on Marina Road this season. Neither side had a shot on target. It was very hard to watch as neither side looked capable of holding onto the ball for more than two passes.
Suddenly, on 36 minutes, Didim showed the first piece of quality with some neat inter-passing around the edge of the penalty area before releasing Nurettin Kucukdeniz to finish calmly in the bottom right of the goal. An excellent goal and one that should have seen Didim take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Sadly, it wasn’t to be. On 43 minutes a cross was played across the Didim penalty area and seemed destined to go out for a goal kick. Inexplicably, a Didim defender hauled down an attacker. The referee had no choice but to point to the spot. The kick was duly despatched.
The excitement created some kind of disturbance in the Director’s Box as shouting and some unpleasant scenes took everyone’s attention away from the game. Stewards and police restored order, but it was yet another unnecessary sight to go with too many we’ve seen this season.
The quality in the second half improved marginally. At least there was some passion shown as the awarding of an offside free kick on 50 minutes somehow led to every player on the pitch pushing and shoving in a melee. Why the opposition goalkeeper had to run 70 yards to get involved can only be put down to the fact he’d had nothing else to do all match. The referee let the players calm down before issuing a yellow card to a player from each team.
On 58 minutes Didim’s afternoon went downhill. A long ball was knocked down to give Osmaniyespor striker an easy strike to give the visitors the lead. The closest Didim came for the rest of the game was a direct free kick on 69 minutes, which flew inches wide.
The final excitement, on a fairly boring afternoon, came on 76 minutes when the Osmaniyespor striker committed gbh on a Didim defender, wiping him out and making contact to the head with his shoulder. The referee had no choice but to wave a red card, which led to a few minutes of mayhem as the guilty player all but refused to leave the pitch. It was a shock when he came to sit in the stand with the home supporters for the last 10 minutes of the match.
It was another disappointing day for Didim. Games are now running out in what is a tight battle to avoid relegation.
Didim Efeler 09 play away to Bayburt next Sunday, before returning to Marina Road against Yozgat on Saturday March 22 with a 2pm kick-off.