Fener Held Away By Bursa, Shares Lead With Beşiktaş

Dutchman Dirk Kuyt scored for Fenerbahçe in the second half of the team's match with Bursaspor in week 10 of the Spor Toto Super League at Bursa Atatürk Stadium on Monday evening, as the two sides drew 1-1 and pocketed a point apiece. But that was only enough for Fenerbahçe -- aka the Yellow Canaries -- to share first spot in the table with Beşiktaş, who had beaten Kasımpaşa 2-0 in İstanbul the day before.

The draw halted a three-match winning streak by Fenerbahçe, while Bursaspor got closer to the leaders of the pack and climbed to fifth spot, trailing Fenerbahçe by five points.

Kuyt believes the result was fair. “We could have won or lost,” the Dutchman said. He added that Fenerbahçe never gives in and always continues to put up a fight.

Fenerbahçe coach İsmail Kartal described the match as a beautiful example of Turkish football and congratulated his players for snatching a point in an important away match. While noting that conceding an early goal shocked his team, Kartal said the players balanced the game later and were able to improve their offense in the second half thanks to the substitutes coming off the bench.

Yet Kartal's choices were not welcome by everyone, with tensions high after Fenerbahçe coach Kartal sidelined Caner Erkin in the 35th minute and replaced him with Hasan Ali Kaldırım. The experienced midfielder had received a yellow card in the seventh minute. Caner protested the decision as he left the pitch and he was heard saying he would never play for the team again.

“I apologize to the team, the fans, the Fenerbahçe world and my coach,” Caner said in his post-game remarks to the match's broadcaster. “I did something I shouldn't have. It will never happen again. I'm aggressive and ambitious to win. I was mistaken; I should've controlled myself.”

Kartal was positive about his apologetic midfielder, saying they will work it out between themselves. “I know Caner. There is no problem. We'll handle it on our own,” Kartal said.

Bursaspor had a storming start and went up 1-0 in the third minute with Volkan Şen, who converted a pass from Fernando Belluschi and struck home with his first touch in the Fenerbahçe box. Bursaspor missed a glaring chance to double its lead at the beginning of the second half with Cedric Bakambu.

Fenerbahçe midfielder Diego Ribas was stretchered off the pitch after he picked up a calf injury in the 56th minute and was replaced by Moussa Sow. Later, Kuyt was on the scene to save the day for the visiting side and hit an equalizer to set the score in the 66th minute: 1-1.

In another fixture, Roberto Carlos's Sivasspor routed Balıkesirspor 3-1 away to increase its points total to nine and climb to 16th place. Batuhan Karadeniz, Aatif Chahechouhe and Ahmet Aras scored for Sivasspor.

ESRA MADEN (Cihan/Today's Zaman)