Turkey round-up: Red cards mar Istanbul derby

Fenerbahçe SK won the Istanbul derby against a Galatasaray SK side who finished the match with seven men, after the dismissal of four players in a dramatic second half.

Rapajic on target
Fenerbahçe are now just four points behind their city rivals thanks to a Milan Rapajic goal after 27 minutes at the Sükrü Saraçoglu stadium. Rapajic latched on to a chipped free-kick from Ogun Temizkanoglu to lash a right-footed shot past Farid Mondragón. He nearly added to his tally minutes later when Mondragón made an excellent, acrobatic save from his 25-metre free-kick.

Four red cards
However, the game was short on genuine quality and the main talking point at full-time were the four red cards handed to Galatasaray players in the second half. Emre Asik was dismissed for a second yellow card after 63 minutes and was followed shortly afterwards by João Batista after a clash with Fenerbahçe's Serhat Akin.

Hasan and Bulent see red
Hasan Sas followed Batista to the dressing room within seconds for arguing with the referee about the decision to dismiss his team-mate, and captain Bulent Korkmaz followed a minute later after disputing the referee's decision to give him a yellow card for a mistimed tackle.

Missed opportunities
Incredibly, Fenerbahçe could make no further headway, even with their opponents reduced to seven men, although Samuel Johnson hit the post and Serhat managed to miss an open goal.

No joy for Yozgatspor
In Saturday's other games, Gençlerbirligi SK won 3-2 against rock-bottom Yozgatspor while Samsunspor's troubles deepened as they lost 3-2 at home against Bursaspor. Malatyaspor played out a 0-0 draw with Denizlispor.