Turkish Cup joy for Kocaelispor
Wednesday, April 3, 2002
Article summary
Kocaelispor secured a place in the UEFA Cup with a Turkish Cup final defeat of Besiktas JK.
Article body
Kocaelispor secured a place in next season's UEFA Cup with a 4-0 Turkish Cup final victory over ten-man Besiktas JK at the Atatürk stadium, Bursa.
Red card
Kocaelispor led at the interval through Cihan Haspolatli's strike, but it took a second-half red card for midfield player Ibrahim Üzülmez to secure their dominance.
Numerical advantage
The underdogs made their numerical advantage count on the hour when Zdravko Lazarov scored. That goal seemed to demoralise Besiktas and the Istanbul giants let in two more goals in the last ten minutes, with Roman Dobrowski (82) and Serdar Topraktepe (84) on target.
Competitive league
Defeat for Besiktas leaves Christoph Daum's side looking at an increasingly competitive league battle to secure a place in Europe next term.
