Metin Akpunar: We were very happy to advance to the next round without being defeated in the cup

After beating Solwie Energy Fatih Karagümrük 2-1 in the third week match of the Ziraat Turkish Cup Group A and advancing to the quarter-finals, İskenderunspor's technical director Metin Akpunar made a statement at the press conference held after the match played at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium.

Akpunar, who emphasized that his players responded very well to their system, said, "We were very happy to advance to the next round undefeated in the cup. The kids had also shown us how to play at a high level in the Trabzonspor match. We were happy to win against Karagümrük, one of Turkey's most established teams, today. The kids are responding very well to training. We played almost perfectly in the first half."

Akpunar, reminding that they came to Istanbul with 5 missing players due to the league matches, continued as follows:

"I always told our players, 'If we are worthy of our jersey, this community will also be behind us.' Our club actually has a significant transfer success. They wanted to transfer two of our hopeful national players and our players to a higher league level, but we managed to keep them. It makes us happy that our valuable players are especially prominent in these cup matches. We have many players who can play in the upper league. They proved that."

Akpunar, who stated that they need to develop their game repertoire, said, "Our team has good physiology and plays defense very well. The game style we want from our kids is today's first half. We need to develop our game repertoire. When we play, our quality feet add value to our value. We made a change in philosophy, but even playing in one half is enough for us."