Ankaraspor add to Besiktas woe

By Türker Tozar

Besiktas JK's poor run in the Turkish Superleague continued as they were beaten 3-2 at home by BB Ankaraspor to remain on six points from seven matches.

Late drama
Tita opened the scoring for Ankaraspor in the 32nd minute, before Besiktas responded with goals from John Carew and Ahmed Hassan. However, they could not defend their lead, and Wederson on 78 minutes and Tita with his second in the 90th, secured the points for the visitors. Besiktas did not help themselves by being reduced to ten men for the last 24 minutes following the dismissal of Tayfun Korkut.

Alex tips balance
Leaders Fenerbahçe SK won 2-1 at Gençlerbirligi SK with two goals in the last four minutes from Brazilian midfielder Alex. Fenerbahçe had fallen behind to Sedat Yesilkaya's 53rd-minute strike and had to wait until the 86th minute for the equaliser, with Alex latching on to Márcio Nobre's throughpass to score. Then, in stoppage time, he applied a close-range finish to Mehmet Yozgatli's cross to claim victory.

Easy for Trabzonspor
Second-placed Trabzonspor had a comfortable 3-1 success at Sakaryaspor. Fatih Tekke's opener was cancelled out by Burak Akdis, but Adem Koçak restored Trabzonspor's lead and Tekke clinched the victory late on.

Visitors rampant
Meanwhile, Kayserispor's 4-1 home defeat by Samsunspor cost coach Hüsnü Özkara his job with the second-from-bottom club. Özkara, who led Kayserispor to promotion last term, left by mutual consent. Goalkeeper Metin Aktas has also been dropped and fined after arguing with team-mates during a match in which Kayserispor were sunk by goals from Cenk Isler (2), Ali Akdeniz and Celil Sagir.

Injury worry
Elsewhere, Galatasaray SK moved into third place after a comfortable 4-1 home success against Istanbulspor AS. Hasan Sas, Arif Erdem, Hakan Sükür and Necati Ates were all on target before Ahmet Dursun grabbed a consolation goal. Galatasaray's victory, however, was marred by the news that Brazilian midfield player Flávio Conceição will be out for a month with a strained leg muscle.

Hard-fought draw
Akçaabat Sebatspor and Rizespor could not break the deadlock in a hard-fought 0-0 draw. Denizlispor defeated MKE Ankaragücü 2-0, while Gaziantepspor, unbeaten at home this season, could only manage a 1-1 draw with Diyarbakirspor. Finally, Malatyaspor routed coachless Konyaspor 5-0 at home with an Atilla Birlik hat-trick and two goals from Milan Osterc.