Spor Toto Super League – Week 5 Recap

Whenever there is an Istanbul derby, there's always great anticipation. Words are exchanged between supporters, players get psyched, and the country comes to a stop for about two hours. This week was no exception. But there were other matches in week 5 in the Spor Toto Super League that were just as important as the season's first edition of the Istanbul derbies.

The week opened up with Trabzonspor hosting Manisaspor at the Huseyin Avni Aker stadium. With Manisaspor's bad start to the season, and a new head coach, people might have expected Trabzonspor to run roughshod over the bottom dwellers. It certainly looked that way in the 9^th minute, as Selcuk Inan put the hosts ahead in the match. Manisaspor had other ideas. Ariza Makukula made his triumphant return to the goal scoring charts of the Turkish Super League, scoring in the 41^st minute. Josh Simpson scored a goal at the 45^th minute right before the halftime whistle, and Manisaspor were up 2-1 at the break. Makukula added a second goal in the 69^th minute and Manisaspor gained their first victory of the season, beating Trabzonspor 3-1.

Ankaragücü hosted Kasımpaşa at the May 19^th stadium in a match between two clubs off to slow starts. Ankaragücü got the scoring started just before halftime with a goal from Metin Akan. With Kasımpaşa's Gustavo Bebbe getting a direct red card in the 56^th minute, Ankaragücü took advantage and scred in the 58^th minute with a goal from Marek Sapara. The night would turn into misery for Kasımpaşa as Luiz dos Santos scored into his own net in the 67^th minute. Ankaragücü went on to win by the score of 3-0.

Sivasspor hosted Eskişehirspor in a battle of lower table sides. In the 25^th minute, Ceyhun Eris scored off a cross from Mehmet Yildiz to give Sivasspor the lead. It seemed as if that would be the only goal of the match. But there's an old saying, "football is a game of 90 minutes", and it would prove true in this match. In the third minute of three of stoppage time, Adem Sari of Eskişehirspor scored to make the final score 1-1.

Kayserispor looked to continue their run of good form, and they went on the road to Antalya. With the start Kayserispor has had, it looked to be a continuation of their good start. Antalyaspor had other ideas. Serge Djiehoua got the scoring started in the 15^th minute as Antalyaspor went up 1-0. In the 42^nd minute, Marcelo Zayaleta tied the match for Kayserispor as both teams went into the halftime break with the match tied 1-1. Sedat Agcay scored in the 59^th minute to put Antalyaspor in the lead. Kayserispor tried to tie the match by increasing their attacks at the Antalyaspor goal. Antalyaspor held on to win the match 2-1 and gave Kayserispor their first defeat of the season.

With two straight wins to even out their two straight losses to start the season, Galatasaray were ready to make their run towards the title. They had to do it without influential Arda Turan, who continued his recovery from his ankle injury suffered in the national team match against Belgium. They went to the Izmir Ataturk stadium to face Bucaspor. This would serve as a virtual home game for Galatasaray since the Galatasaray fans outnumbered the Bucaspor fans, like the first week of the season when Bucaspor hosted Beşiktaş. Ayhan Akman scored the only goal in this match, as that goal was enough to give Galatasaray the 1-0 win. Galatasaray got their third straight win after losing their first two matches.

Kardemir Karabukspor has defied expectations so far and got their season off to a good start. Hosting Gençlerbirliği, Karabukspor continued to show good form with a 3-0 victory. Emmanuel Emenike, who lit up the goal scoring charts in the Bank Asya 1^st division, scored two goals in the 23^rd and 82^nd minutes. Hakan Ozmert was the other goal scorer for Karabukspor as they won comfortably.

Anytime an Istanbul derby is scheduled, the eyes of Turkey are focused on that match, and with Fenerbahçe hosting Beşiktaş, this was no exception. The Fenerbahçe fans would be happy in the 26^th minute. With slack defending by Beşiktaş, and bad positioning by Beşiktaş goalkeeper Hakan Arikan, Mamadou Niang scored his third goal of the season to put the hosts up 1-0. Further chances by Gokhan Gonul, Niang and Issiar Dia failed to find the net, and Fenerbahçe would only be up by one goal at the halftime break. Beşiktaş took control of the match in the second half. Guti was the midfield maestro, providing passes that set up chances for Beşiktaş. In the 86^th minute, Fenerbahçe goalkeeper Volkan Demirel tripped Beşiktaş striker Bobo in the penalty area in a one on one situation, leading to a Beşiktaş penalty. Guti stepped up, and although Demirel got the direction right and got a hand to the ball, the ball went into the back of the net. The match would end in a 1-1 tie and it was obvious that Beşiktaş were the happier side after the match. Fenerbahçe's early season misery continues and fans of the club were calling for head coach Aykut Kocaman to resign.

While the derby was going on, Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor hosted Konyaspor. Ali Sami Yen stadium hosted this match, and the first half ended with a 0-0 score. Herve Tum scored in the 63^rd minute for the hosts to give Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor the win 1-0.

Gaziantepspor hosted defending champions Bursaspor in the final match of the week. The halftime score ended with both teams failing to score. In the 56^th minute, Bursaspor got a goal through captain Omer Erdogan. At around the 53^rd minute, Gaziantepspor fans threw objects onto the field, mostly water bottles. In the 63^rd minute, linesman Muharrem Yilmaz was hit in the back of the head, reportedly by a wristwatch, and had to get two stitches to close the wound. Referee Deniz Coban halted the match after the linesman got hit. This isn't the first time that a Bursaspor match has been halted early in this calendar year. Last season, a match in which Bursaspor played Diyarbakirspor in Diyarbakir was halted in the 17^th minute as constant objects thrown from the stands and a rock from the stands hit a linesman. If previous precedent holds, Bursaspor will most likely be awarded a 3-0 victory by default and Gaziantepspor will have to play two to three games behind closed doors.