Achilles Cup - Match Day 2 Report

Besiktas 1 – 0 Fenerbahce

Fernerbahce made the trip across the Bosphorus to the Ataturk stadium where hosts Besiktas were playing their second consecutive home fixture and were looking to build on their Match Day 1 victory.

Despite the gulf in league status between these two the visitors knew that would be in for a stern test and so it proved in a very tight affair that saw keepers rarely tested but kept the crowd behind the goals on their toes as accuracy wasn’t in the vocabulary of the majority of players.

The first keeper to be tested was the Besiktas stopper Zengin who on the 13 minute mark reacted superbly to a Joe Allen half volley after being set up by Diego.

Besiktas took a further 7 minutes before testing Casilla when Ozyakup played Onazi through only to see the Spanish keeper get a strong hand to his powerful effort to push it out and away from danger.

Coming up to the half hour mark Zengin was again up to the task when a long range effort from Kjaer tried to catch the keeper unawares but there wasn’t enough distance in the effort to trouble the Turk.

Then on 34 minutes Zuculini took a sweet ball from Koyabsi in his stride and struck an unstoppable shot from the edge of the area that had Casilla beaten from the moment it was struck.

The visitors thought they had equalised on the stroke of half time when Ntep hit a grass cutter across the face of goal but Zengin somehow managed to cover his ground and dive full length to tip it wide of the post.

Besiktas appeared content with their advantage and were content to sit back and absorb the Fenerbahce pressure in the second half. Time and time again the visitors knocked on the door but found the hosts defence resolute in restricting them to a couple of efforts from Ntep and Souza that Zengin dealt with comfortably.

Zengin deservedly walked away with the man of the match award as well as manager Gerrit Vogeleers thanks for being the reason they have maximum points and top the table. Opposition manager Norman Little on the other hand will no doubt have come away believing that his team should have had at least a share of the spoils to take away from this encounter.

Galatasary 2 – 2 Olympicaos

This proved to be David Seniors last game in charge of Olympiacos as he took the Greeks to Istanbul to take on Galatasaray under new manager Nathan Prince.

The Division 2 hosts will have been hoping to record their first victory in the competition against their lower league opponents but the Greeks have proved to be stubborn opponents against loftier placed opponents this season.

The hosts got off to the perfect start when on 3 minutes Adin fired them into the lead when he struck a ball from Yilmaz first time into the top corner giving Roberto nothing but a photo opportunity in his vain attempt to keep it out.

10 minutes later the Greeks were level when man of the match Fortounis set up Pavoletti to drill a low shot under Muslera.

That’s how it stayed up until the hour mark when the same two combined only this time it was Fortounis who finished hitting the top corner giving the keeper no chance.

The lead lasted only 6 minutes when Sneider set up Osman who drilled a shot from the centre of the box low into the side netting.

Some late pressure from the visitors was repelled by the hosts who on reflection will be the happier of the two to have come away with a point and if Prince didn’t already knowe that there are no easy games in T100 he surely does now.