By Udo Steven Bassey
Ankara - New Fener caretaker trainer Tamer Guney, the team's third coach this season, found several reasons to be cheerful despite dropping two points at home in a 3-3 Super League thriller with Ankara's Genclerbirligi.
The first was Fenerbahce Yellow Canaries's overall performance in a draw against all-attacking Gencler at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium. The Canaries performed well above par. Under the short tenure of sacked coach Oguz Cetin, Fener was uninspiring, lethargic and dreary -- garnering only 12 points out of a possible 30 in 10 outings.
But on Sunday night, Fener stretched the championship-chasing Gencler all night and created at least as many chances as its opponent. Twice the Canaries went into lead, and were slightly unfortunate to concede an injury-time equalizer just when they appeared to have taken the match by the scruff of the neck.
The second reason Guney has to be cheerful is a young man called Semih Senturk. Almost abandoned throughout the season at the Kadikoy doghouse by the balding and wrinkling Cetin, Semih has brought urgency and energy to the central section of Fener's attack.
The previous weekend in Oguz's last match at the helm, Semih came in as late sub and scored the only goal for his team in their 3-1 loss at Adana, a result that was the nail in Oguz's coffin.
Playing for the entire duration of the game on Sunday, Semih was again superb, scoring two of Fener's three goals with perfect shots in the Gencler penalty area.
Semih opened the scoring for the Canaries after 36 minutes, but goals from Bulent (40th) and Veysel (43rd) gave Gencler a 2-1 advantage at the break.
With more sustained pressure in the second half, Semih equalized for Fener in the 64th and Ali Gunes gave Canaries a 3-2 lead in the 73rd. But victory for the Canaries was not to be.
A free-kick taken by Gencler's Thomas in the first minute of injury time, found the head of Deniz and sailed into the back of the Fener net for the equalizer.
Caretaker coach Guney was naturally satisfied with Sunday's result -- not only because it boosted the team's morale, but also because it allows his side to concentrate on the toughie this weekend against unbeaten leader and arch-rival Besiktas.
Being very careful not to gloat, Guney said, "This is not a moment to savor." Undoubtedly he had the upcoming Super League match against Besiktas Black Eagles at the Inonu Stadium on his mind.
Gencler front
Gencler coach Ersun Yanal, widely rumored as the top candidate for the Fener coaching job next season, praised his players' patience for the hard-fought draw.
"We did not deserve to lose [against Fenerbahce] and we managed to do it," said Yanal. "That's the only thing that counts."
Trailing Besiktas by four points and Galatasaray by three, Gencler dream of winning the Super League championship, or even finishing second and playing in the European Champions League next season will come to an abrupt end if it drops points in its next matches and its opponents do not.
Bye-bye Kocaeli?
Talk of survival and staying power came to nought when Ankaragucu all but crushed cellar-dweller Kocaelispor's slim chances of avoiding the drop with a 2-0 home win at the capital's 19 Mayis Stadium.
Two second-half goals from Ozgur (50th) and Ghanaian striker Augustine Ohene (striker) left Kocaelispor rooted at the bottom of the standings with just 19 points from 27 games. With only seven matches remaining, not even a modern-day Houdini can save Kocaeli at this stage.
Elsewhere...
In Sunday's other games, Elazigspor beat visiting Adanaspor 4-2 in a tough battle for survival and Bursaspor lost 2-1 at Gaziantep to drop to second from bottom. The match between Trabzonspor and Istanbulspor ended the way it started, 0-0.