Ateş fires up Galatasaray victory in his 100th game

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Galatasaray forward Necati Ateş (R) dribbles the ball past a Gaziantepspor defender in his 100th game for the Istanbul club. AA photo

Spor Toto Super League leader Galatasaray came from one goal behind to beat struggling Gaziantepspor the night of Feb. 4, inspired by a goal from its new signing Necati Ateş.

The victory came on the same day Trabzonspor lost 2-1 at Medical Park Antalyaspor, missing the chance to cut the gap with the top three in the standings.

In yesterday’s early game, Sivasspor won 5-1 at Mersin İdman Yurdu on double goals from Kıvanç Karakaş and Erman Kılıç. Jan Rajnoch of the Czech Republic scored the fifth in the dying minutes of the game while the home side’s goal came from Liberian midfielder Tonia Tisdell.

The weekend’s highlight, the Istanbul derby between Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş, was still in progress when the Hürriyet Daily News went to print yesterday.

Necati, who returned to the Istanbul club after leaving five years ago, scored the equalizer in the 53rd minute in his 100th game for Galatasaray, three minutes after Ivelin Popov put the home side ahead.
Swedish forward Johan Elmander sent in the winner in the 66th minute.

Galatasaray coach delighted with Necati’s performance

The league leader’s coach Fatih Terim was happy to see the 32-year-old Necati start his second spell at the club with a goal.

“Necati played in this game after just two training session with the team, but he is no stranger to me or the club,” Terim told reporters at a post-game conference. “I’m happy that he scored on his debut.”
The experienced coach said Gaziantepspor, which is struggling to stay away from the relegation zone, deserved a much better place in the standings. 

“It is never easy to play against a team like Gaziantep,” said Terim. “The weather made the conditions harder, but both teams put on a very good display. I congratulate Hikmet Karaman [Gaziantepspor coach] and his players. They do not need to be sorry – the team will rise up if the players keep on performing well like they did tonight.”

Karaman was also happy with his team’s performance, to a level. “We fought well on the pitch, but conceded two goals on two unforgiveable individual mistakes,” said Karaman, who quit his job as a pundit for Lig TV to take over the post at Gaziantepspor two weeks ago. “I’ve seen many things tonight that made me happy, but I’m absolutely disappointed about the result.”

Gaziantespor coach recalled that his team had a tough fixture ahead, starting with next week’s game at Trabzonspor. “We have changed many things since I came here, and there are many more things we should be working on,” said Karaman, noting that the weather and the condition of the pitch in Gaziantep’s Kamil Ocak Stadium were not helping the situation.

“Something must be immediately done about the pitch if we want the team to progress. It is currently awful,” he said.