Turkey round-up: Besiktas march on

Turkish Super League leaders Besiktas JK took another step towards the title thanks to a 2-1 away defeat of third-placed Gençlerbirligi.

Five-point lead
Besiktas remained five points ahead of second-placed Galatasaray SK with four games to go. Kaan Dobra's 35-metre free-kick opened the scoring and the same player doubled the lead five minutes before half-time.

Mido response
Gençlerbirligi replied through Egyptian midfield player Ahmed Hassan "Mido" just a minute later but in the second half the away side were reduced to ten men when Thomas Zdebel was dismissed for his second bookable offence.

In the race
Galatasaray, meanwhile, stayed in contention after comfortably defeating MKE Ankaragücü 3-0 with goals from Ali Lukunku in the first half and fine strikes from Ümit Karan and Ergün Penbe after the break.

Fenerbahçe blow
Fifth-placed Fenerbahçe SK's hopes of a UEFA Cup place suffered a blow when they slipped to their another defeat, going down 2-0 away to Istanbulspor AS after goals from Cenk Isler and Alban Bushaj.

Easy win
In-form Adanaspor AS, however, were on the right end of a 2-0 scoreline, defeating Samsunspor courtesy of a header from Gökmen Yildiran and an injury-time effort from Necati Ates.

Point each
Mid-table Malatyaspor took a point from their away encounter with Diyarbakirspor after a 1-1 draw. Fazli Ulusoy's penalty gave the visitors the lead but Deniz Kolgu levelled in the 62nd minute.

Kocaelispor lose again
At the other end of the table, last-placed Kocaelispor lost 3-1 to Elazigspor, conceding in the 15th minute when Roberto da Silva converted a spot-kick but equalising 15 minutes later through Ugur Yasan after a fine run from Cenker Dirlik. However, Cem Yanik's volley gave Elazigspor the lead and Mehmet Deliorman's goal made sure of victory.

Okan again
Fifteenth-placed Bursaspor defeated Altay GK 2-1 with goals from the prolific Okan Yilmaz and Mustafa Er. Effa Owona pulled one back but it was not enough for his side to be able to take anything from the hard-fought encounter. Meanwhile, second-bottom Göztepe AS lost 3-2 to Denizlispor.

Mehmet double
On Saturday, Trabzonspor ended their barren patch with a valuable 2-1 win against Gaziantepspor 2-1, Mehmet Yilmaz collecting goals in each half. Maxim Romaschenko's strike six minutes from time for the visitors was too little too late.