Fenerbahçe snatches last-gasp victory against city rival Kasımpaşa

ISTANBUL

With the win, Fenerbahçe increases its overall points to 40. DHA photo

Turkish Super League crown contender Fenerbahçe clinched a 3-1 victory at home tonight thanks to last-gasp goals against its in-form city rival Kasımpaşa. The Yellow Canaries continued their pursuit of league leaders and archrivals Galatasaray, who will play what is likely to be a nail-biting game against Orduspor on Feb. 25.

Tonight’s match wasn’t a sure win for Fenerbahçe, who conceded a penalty at the very beginning of the game. Nigerian striker Kalu Uche converted the penalty kick into a goal in the game’s second minute, raising Kasımpaşa’s hopes for a second successive win against their powerful rivals.

In the following minutes, Fenerbahçe assaulted the visitor’s goal, seeking an opportunity to equalize the score without success. In the 24th minute, Kasımpaşa’s defense blocked a corner shot from Fenerbahçe’s Dutch star Dirk Kuyt. Kasımpaşa’s Swedish international, Andreas Isaaksson, made a crucial save to a very dangerous center kick from Gökhan Gönül at the second post. In the 45th minute Gönül managed to find Pierre Webo in the penalty area, but Webo’s volley went wide over the crossbar.  

The beginning of the second half saw Kasımpaşa searching for a second goal to seal their victory. Uruguayan Tabare Viudez, who played a key part in Kasımpaşa’s win against Galatasaray a few weeks ago, narrowly missed the goal during a free-kick in the 52nd minute, his shot going just wide from Volkan Demirel’s goal. Just a jew minutes later Demirel was put to the test again, this time saving an attempt by Adem Büyük.

With Kasımpaşa’s most dangerous attacks, Fenerbahçe got the equalizing goal with a header from Webo on a corner in the 60th minute.

The last periods of the match saw Fenerbahçe evoke a huge pressure against their rival, which paid off in the match’s 90th minute when the referee gave the second penalty of the game in a foul to Webo during another corner kick. The team’s captain, Emre Belözoğlu, brought the score to 2-1.

After the goal, all of Kasımpaşa’s players, including the team’s goalkeeper Isaaksson, moved into Fenerbahçe’s penalty area. In a quick counter-attack before Isaaksson could regain his place Moussa Saw of Fenerbahçe rolled the ball into the empty goal for 3-1.

With the win, Fenerbahçe increases its overall points to 40, one point in front of Beşiktaş who ranks in third place after defeating Sivasspor 1-0 on Feb. 23 in a tricky away game. Kasımpaşa remains at 33 points in the 7th spot. 

Elsewhere, Trabzonspor beat Mersin İdman Yurdu 1-0 and is in 10th place with 30 points. Mersin İdman Yurdu is still at the bottom of the table with 20 points.