Trabzonspor sacks coach after 4-2 loss

ISTANBUL

Mustafa Akçay had been in charge of Trabzonspor since last July. CİHAN photo

Trabzonspor announced Feb. 10 that it had parted ways with coach Mustafa Akçay in the wake of a humiliating home defeat against minnow Akhisarspor.

The Black Sea club lost 4-2 to Akhisar in Trabzon on Feb. 9, failing to get a victory in its seventh consecutive Spor Toto Super League game.

Assistant coach Hami Mandıralı, a former Trabzonspor and Turkish international player, will temporarily take over the coaching post, Trabzonspor said in a written statement.

With the loss, Trabzonspor dropped to ninth spot in the league standings, while Akhisar climbed up to fifth place, 13 points behind leader Fenerbahçe.

The Istanbul club stayed atop the standings despite a 2-0 loss at Sivasspor on Feb. 9. The visiting side was left with 10 men on the pitch when Egemen Korkmaz was sent off in the 21st minute. Aydın Karabulut took the home team ahead on 58th and Burhan Eşer set the score in the 81st.
Fenerbahçe chairman Aziz Yıldırım blamed the referee for the loss. 

“This referee has done similar things in our every game,” Yıldırım told reporters after the match, claiming that referee Yunus Yıldırım ignored a penalty appeal for Fenerbahçe and was wrong to send off Korkmaz.

“This referee, in short, is incapable. The results of continuing with an incapable referee could be devastating. I call on the [Turkish Football] Federation to clean out such incapable referees,” he said.
Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe’s closest pursuer, cut the gap with the leader to 4 points with a 3-0 victory at home against Eskişehirspor Feb. 8. 

In the week’s other games, Beşiktaş won 2-1 at Gaziantep, Kasımpaşa lost 3-1 to Konyaspor and Elazığspor beat Kayserispor 3-0. The Bursaspor vs. Antalyaspor and Erciyesspor vs. Rizespor games both ended in 1-1 draws.