What a great finish for Akhisar Belediye! In the early days of April, they were hanging around the danger zone but then they managed to finish the season in the seventh place after recording a six-game winning run. It was their best league performance in the club history. No doubt that coach Okan Buruk was sorry about the Aegean side’s away performance before his arrivad. Without him, they could collect only ten points in fourteen trips. Had they obtained more points, they could have found themselves in a much better place. They kicked off the season with coach Cihat Arslan but the board had to replace him with coach Tolunay Kafkas three fixtures later. With him, they were unable to catch any stability for a long time. After they lost to the bottom side Adana on the road and suffered their fourth defeat in five games, the board thought it was over. The arrival of coach Okan Buruk changed the destiny of the team. Until his arrival, they could score eighteen goals in twenty-five fixtures but they hit the back of the net twenty-eight times in the nine fixtures with him. On the net, they had to use three keepers in general because of several reasons. In the defence line, Omer, Caner and Lopes did a great job and the winter arrival Mustafa joined them in the season’s second period. With the coach’s arrival, they found their great rhythm. In the midfield, Custodio & Soner did a great partnership defending. It seems like Ozer Hurmaci returned to his past shiny days with his performance in the Aegean side. About scoring, Basaksehir loanee Cikalleshi contributed a lot to the team’s success but there is no doubt that Vaz Te deserves to be applauded greatly following his 22-goal performance. In order to repeat their success in the next season, they will have to find a way to save the power level of this campaign. There already are some players who will not be part of the team in the next season. To have some back-ups for the backline should be a must.
