Galatasaray gain derby delight

By Türker Tozar

Córdoba fumble

Necati dismissal
Ten minutes after the deadlock was broken, Necati Ates was dismissed and the complexion of the game changed. However, Besiktas were unable to break down their rivals and Galatasaray held on to earn a win that takes them to second in the Turkish Superleague after Trabzonspor were defeated 3-2 by Gaziantepspor.

Trabzonspor shocked
Sedat Agçay scored the deciding goal with four minutes remaining, dealing coach Senol Günes his first loss since returning to the club in December. The league high-fliers had taken the lead on 16 minutes before strikes from Tarek Ettayeb and Zied Jaziri wrested the initiative back in favour of the home side. Miroslaw Szymkowiak made it 2-2 on 64 minutes and that is how it remained until Sedat's late strike.

Fenerbahçe victory
The result leaves the side eight points adrift of leaders Fenerbahçe SK, who scored two goals in two minutes from Nicolas Anelka and Marcio Nobre to defeat Malatyaspor. Both sides ended the match with ten men as Eren Aydin and Tuncay Sanli saw red.

Late equaliser
Relegation-threatened Istanbulspor AS also had a player sent off but still managed to salvage a 1-1 draw against Samsunspor. Serkan Aykut gave the visitors the lead six minutes after Yalçin Ayhan's dismissal but Musasa Kabamba earned Istanbulspor a share of the spoils in added time. The matches between Denizlispor and Diyarbakirspor, and Sakaryaspor AS and BB Ankaraspor also ended 1-1.

Ayman double
While much of the attention was focussed on the Galatasaray game, there was derby action elsewhere as Gençlerbirligi SK cantered to a 4-0 win against MKE Ankaragücü in the capital, Ankara. Ayman Abdelaziz scored twice, while Josip Skoko and Mustafa Özkan were also on target with all the goals coming in the last quarter.

Eight-goal thriller
Elsewhere, Kayserispor won 2-1 against Çaykur Rizespor, while bottom side Akçaabat Sebatspor were reduced to nine men as they lost 5-3 in an eventful encounter with Konyaspor.