Turkish Super Lig Wrap: Sneijder settles feisty derby

Galatasaray kept their faint hopes of winning the Turkish Super Lig alive by winning a feisty derby clash with leaders Fenerbahce 1-0.

Wesley Sneijder scored the only goal of the game with a clinical finish after just nine minutes at Galatasaray’s Turk Telekom Arena as Roberto Mancini’s side cut the gap to Fenerbahce to seven points.The visitors’ hopes of getting anything out of Sunday’s game were not helped when midfielder Emre Belozoglu was sent off for a second bookable offence five minutes before half-time.

Galatasaray’s Felipe Melo also saw red three minutes from time and referee Bulent Yildirim dished out 14 yellow cards in a lively encounter, which resulted in the home side ending a run of five games without a win in all competitions.

Defeat for Ersun Yanal’s charges ensured Fenerbahce’s run of four consecutive wins came to an end and it could have been worse for them if the impressive Didier Drogba had not been denied by the woodwork.

Besiktas are level on points with Mancini’s men after their 2-1 victory over bottom-of-the-table Kayserispor on Saturday.

Olcay Sahan put Besiktas in front two minutes before half-time and a further strike from Oguzhan Ozyakup in the second half ensured Okay Yokuslu’s stoppage-time strike was merely a consolation for the relegation-threatened visitors.

Kayseri Erciyesspor moved out of the drop zone by brushing aside fellow-strugglers Elazigspor with a ruthless first-half display to secure a 3-0 victory on Sunday.

All three goals came before the break with Edinho, Senijad Ibricic and Yasin Oztekin on target to secure three precious points, which moved Kayseri Erciyesspor above their opponents and Antalyaspor.

Rizespor were unable to move further clear of the bottom three as they were consigned to a 1-0 defeat at Karabukspor.

That victory moved Karabukspor up to fourth spot, until they were replaced by Trabzonspor on Monday after Cemil Canalioglu’s side beat Genclerbirligi 3-0.

Brazilian striker Fernandao scored a hat-trick as Bursaspor beat Sivasspor 4-3 in a thriller on Sunday, while there was another high scoring game on Friday when Gaziantepspor held Kasimpasa to a 2-2 draw.

Struggling Antalyaspor and Konyaspor played out a 1-1 draw on Saturday, while there were no goals between Akhisar Belediyespor and Eskisehirspor.