Turkey round-up: Galatasaray humbled at home

Besiktas JK finally brought an end to Galatasaray SK’s 25-match unbeaten run at the Ali Sami Yen stadium on Sunday when they edged a 1-0 win in the Istanbul derby, strengthening their position at the top of the Turkish Super Liga.

Üzülmez winner
The winner came 13 minutes from time when Ibrahim Üzülmez collected a through-ball from Ahmet Yildirim and struck a powerful shot past the reach of despairing Colombian goalkeeper Faryd Mondragón. Antonio Zago had gone close to opening the scoring just before when his shot hit the post.

Fenerbahçe woe
Following their mid-week elimination from the Turkish Cup, Fenerbahçe SK’s woes were compounded when they lost 3-0 against Diyarbakirspor.

Akbas stars
The home team went ahead through Murat Hacioglu on 19 minutes but had Ramazan Tunç sent off on the half-hour and struggled to increase the lead until Saffet Akyüz scored on 84 minutes, the same player adding the third soon after. Fenerbahçe captain Ogün Temizkanoglu was also dismissed for a late challenge on Cengizhan Hinçal.

Samsunspor mauled
The big win of the weekend came courtesy of Gençlerbirligi SK, who thrashed Samsunspor 7-2 with Egyptian midfielder Ahmed Hassan collecting a hat-trick. Thomas Zdebel, Filip Daems and Veysel Cihan were also on the scoresheet.

Awesome Ankaragücü
MKE Ankaragücü starred in another game which did not lack for goals, defeating Gaziantepspor 5-3 in a match they led by three goals at half-time following strikes from Yilmaz Özlem, Ismet Tasdemir, and Augustine Ahinful. Two penalties from Mustafa Sahintürk and Ismet Tasdemir put the visitors back in contention but Ismet Tasdemir and Hakan Keles then scored to make Viola's last-minute effort irrelevant.

Denizlispor undone
Trabzonspor, meanwhile, edged out UEFA Cup hopefuls Denizlispor 1-0. Brazilian midfield player Marco Aurelio hit the vital goal as the Black Sea Storm moved fifth, no doubt helped by Özgür Bayer’s red card at the start of the second half.

Second-half goals
Istanbulspor AS overcame Elazigspor 2-1, despite going behind to Lubomir Meszaros' goal just before the break. Fazli Ulusal and Selçuk Sahin, however, turned the match around with goals on 60 and 85 minutes.

Identical results
Bursaspor won for the first time in nine weeks with a 3-0 defeat of Adanaspor AS, while penultimate-placed Kocaelispor's overcame Altay GK by the same score and Malatyaspor also beat Göztepe A.S. 3-0.