Battle against relegation in league goes to the wire

ISTANBUL

Samsunspor players celebrate at İnönü Stadium after midfielder Murat Yıldırım scored the winner for the visiting side yesterday. AA photo

Samsunspor is set to carry its hopes of hanging on to the Spor Toto Super League to the last match after a surprise 1-0 victory at Beşiktaş yesterday.

Samsunspor midfielder Murat Yıldırım scored the winner for the visiting side in the 70th minute, shocking thousands of Beşiktaş supporters in the stands. Antalyaspor, Samsun’s closest rival, lost 3-1 to Bursaspor at home yesterday to remain at 39 points, three points ahead of the Black Sea side.
Samsunspor won its both games this season and has the advantage in the case of equal points, so the last team relegated to the First Division will be determined in the season’s last games.

“We have won 19 points in the last nine games, but our poor performance in the first half of the season prevents us from being in a better position,” said Samsunpor coach Mesut Bakkal, who took over the post two months ago. “We will do our best next weekend to get what we deserve: to stay in the league,” he added.

Samsunspor hosts Sivasspor at home next weekend, while Antalyaspor travels to Istanbul giant Fenerbahçe.

Comfortable lead

While the bottom side of the league table sees a fierce battle, Galatasaray enjoys a comfortable place at the top of the Spor Toto Super League. The Istanbul club enjoyed a routine 2-0 win over Orduspor on March 31. Necati Ateş, who signed to the club in the mid-season transfer window, opened the scoring after eight minutes, while halftime substitute Sabri Sarıoğlu wrapped things up after the restart.

Also March 31, relegated Manisaspor suffered another defeat as it lost 3-0 at Gençlerbirliği. Hüseyin Tok was dismissed after 42 minutes and that opened the floodgates, with Hurşut Meriç, Ermin Zec and Herve Tum doing the damage. The victory helped the Ankara club to strengthen its position in the playoff battle, which will decide the final team to represent Turkey in the Europa League next season.
Elsewhere in the Spor Toto Super League, Kayserispor played out a 2-2 draw with Eskişehirspor. Diomansy Kamara’s first-half brace put Eskişehirspor in control, only for Emir Kujovic to pull one back before halftime. The visiting side then had Veysel Sarı sent off and its misery was compounded as James Troisi equalized the score in the last minute.

In the weekend’s other game, Wellington Tom scored the winner as Istanbul BB beat Sivasspor 1-0 to extend its chances of a playoff spot to the last game.