Trabzonspor rumbles on towards the championship in Turkey. The unthreatened leader recorded a 4-2 victory over number eighteen Göztepe on Saturday evening and therefore has a lead of no less than eighteen points over the runner-up Konyaspor, who still has one game to go. With ten rounds to go, it is not a question of if, but when Trabzonspor will secure its first national title since 1984. Stefano Denswil was on the field for 90 minutes.
Göztepe had lost all five league games and is in relegation distress, but initially offered Trabzonspor a good match. In a spectacular first half, both teams scored twice; all those goals came in the last fifteen minutes before half-time. After half an hour, Halil Akbunar opened the score on behalf of the visitors. The winger received a cross from Berkan Emir, raged past the falling Denswil and finished face to face with goalkeeper Ugurcan Çakir. Trabzonspor protested over Akbunar’s alleged foul on Denswil, but the video referee decided not to intervene.
Trabzonspor soon came alongside. The leader of Turkey captured the ball on the sidelines and combined smoothly towards the enemy penalty area. Just outside the box, Anthony Nwakaeme shot the ball into the right corner. Abdülkadir Ömür then took the lead after a ‘counter by the book’. When Göztepe had the necessary players in the Trabzonspor penalty area, the home team quickly switched. Edin Visca steamed up through the axis of the field, entered the goal area and enabled Ömür on his left to make it 2-1. Göztepe went to the dressing room with a good feeling, because Soner Aydogdu determined the halftime score at 2-2.
In the second half, Trabzonspor finally took over the game. The team of coach Abdullah Avci fortunately came to 3-2: after a long ball from Nwakaeme, defender Wilker Ángel completely missed when attempting to defend away, allowing Djaniny to pass goalkeeper Irfan Egribayat and eventually finish in an empty goal. Ömür made it 4-2 with a high shot into the top corner from near the penalty spot. Fifteen minutes before the end, Visca could have increased the margin further, but he punted wide. Trabzonspor also had chances to score the fifth goal in the final minutes, although the home side also got away well when a ball was taken from the own goal line by defender Ahmetcan Kaplan.