Soccer News of Wednesday, 9 January 2002

Source: .

Ahinful Speaks

Ankaragucu's Ghananian star Augustine Ahinful, who leads the league in scoring, has announced that he would like to see Besiktas striker Ilhan Mansiz finish the season on top of the scoring charts because he is Turkish.

"We play in the Turkish league so I think the top scorer should be a Turkish striker," he said.

"Ilhan is the best candidate for the job. He is a very talented forward."

Agustine has set the league alight with 14 goals in 17 games to send his side to the sixth in the table by the winter break.

In December alone Agustine scored the winner against Galatasaray then a week later smashed a first-half hat-trick in a 4-3 win away to Denizlispor.

But Agustine, a Ghana international who signed from Boavista in January last year, admits that he is surprised by his success this season.

"At the beginning of the season I was not excepting to score so many goals," he said.

Ilhan has proved an inspired signing for Besiktas following his summer move from Samsunspor, scoring 12 goals already and earning two caps with the Turkey national side.