Hapless Manisa loses demotion battle after defeat by Sivasspor

ISTANBUL

Manisaspor’s Nigerian forward Isaac Promise (L) tries to dribble past Sivas’ Ziya Erdal during a Spor Toto Super League game. AA photo

Manisaspor have become the second team to be relegated from the Spor Toto Super League.

The Tarzans lost 3-1 to Sivasspor yesterday in one of six crucial games in the relegation battle.
 
Ankaragücü, which has collected just 11 points this season, was the first to go down.

Medical Park Antalyaspor and Samsunspor will try to avoid the remaining relegation spot in the remaining two match days, while Gaziantepspor, Kardemir Karabükspor, Kayserispor and Orduspor, who started the weekend with relegation fears, all guaranteed their survival in the top-flight.

Karabükspor beat Kayserispor 1-0, Samsunspor defeated Mersin İdman Yurdu 2-0, Gaziantepspor won 2-0 at Eskişehirspor and Orduspor settled for a 0-0 draw against Gençlerbirliği yesterday.

Crucial win

Nigerian forward Ekigho Ehiosun scored a brace against Mersin İdman Yurdu to lead Samsunspor to a crucial victory. The win came in a comparably more comfortable way than expected with two Mersin players, forward Mert Nobre and defender İbrahim Kaş, sent off, leaving the Mediterranean side with nine men.

Gaziantepspor scored two late goals from Marek Sapara and Serdar Kurtuluş to down Eskişehirspor.
Congolese defender Larrys Mabiala scored the only goal as Karabükspor beat Kayserispor, but the win could have come with a greater margin as the home team wasted many chances in the second half.

Samsunspor, with 33 points, now only has a slight chance of taking over Antalyaspor, which took its points tally to 39 points with a 3-0 win over Ankaragücü yesterday, in the next two weeks.

Just one point in two games will be enough for Antalyaspor, but the Southerners face difficult fixtures against Bursaspor and Fenerbahçe.

Samsunspor, however, has to win back-to-back games against Beşiktaş and Sivasspor to remain on top, while hoping that Antalyaspor lose both their games.

Gaziantepspor and Mersin İdman Yurdu have 42 points, Orduspor has 41, while Kayserispor and Karabükspor have 40. All are now guaranteed safety.

Earlier in the weekend, a strike by captain Alex de Souza led Fenerbahçe to a 1-0 win over Bursaspor.
Fener, with 64 points, cut the difference with leader Galatasaray to six points ahead of the Galatasaray vs. Trabzonspor match, which was scheduled for later yesterday.

Beşiktaş visits Istanbul BB in the closing game of the week, number 32 in the Spor Toto Super League tonight. The game at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium starts at 8 p.m.