Dropped points gall Galatasaray

Galatasaray SK missed the chance to close the gap at the top of the Turkish Super League at the weekend when they stumbled to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Denizlispor.

Kratochvil winner
Galatasaray returned to Istanbul empty-handed after Slovakian defender Roman Kratochvil scored the winner in added time for the home side, who had gone behind thanks to Florin Bratu's 19th-minute strike before Ersen Martin levelled. To make matters worse, Colombian goalkeeper Faryd Mondragón was sent off for the visitors after handling outside the penalty box.

Draw delight
Konyaspor were delighted with their 1-1 draw with Besiktas JK, consistently stifling the attacking incursions of the leaders by packing their defence. Zafer Biryol opened the scoring in the 20th minute but Daniel Pancu ensured the home team at least took a point. Sergen Yalçin went close to collecting a winner four minutes from time but saw his shot rebound off the post.

Last-minute goal
Trabzonspor, in third, were only saved by a last-minute goal from Hüseyin Çimsir in their 2-2 draw with Elazigspor. Maxim Romaschenko's free-kick gave the home team the lead but Ümit Hatipoglu equalised. Haci Arif Durgut capitalised on a defensive error to edge the visitors ahead but they could not hold on.

Shock result
Mid-table Samsunspor produced something of a shock result by outclassing fourth-placed Fenerbahçe SK 3-0 at home. The visitors got off to the worst possible start when they went behind to Caner Altin's strike seven minutes into the game. Adalto da Silva's 25-metre free-kick gave the away side a
2-0 advantage and Caner was again on target for his second - and his team's third - in the 74th minute.

Derby thriller
Gençlerbirligi SK overcame MKE Ankaragücü 3-2 at home in a thrilling Ankara derby. Mustafa Özkan headed the hosts into the lead in the first half but Amr Mahmoud El Desouky struck just past the half hour. The score did not remain even for long, however, with Josip Skoko making it 2-1 five minutes later. Adem Dursun levelled from Ceyhun Eris'
free-kick in the second half - but Ali Tandogan had the final word.

Other games
Elsewhere, Istanbulspor AS went down 3-1 to Diyarbakirspor at home, conceding two goals in opening quarter-of-an-hour with Murat Hacioglu and Kais Ghodhbane both proving accurate in front of goal. Murat collected his second to make it 3-0, before Pini Balili pulled one back.

Drought over
Adanaspor AS secured their first points for three weeks by defeating Çaykur Rizespor 2-0, Ali Asim Balkaya scoring twice in the second half. Finally, Malatyaspor and Gaziantepspor fought out a 0-0 stalemate while Bursaspor and Akçaabat Sebatspor shared the points in a 1-1 draw.