Undefeated Yenicami stay top of K-Pet league
DEFENDING champions Yenicami remain on top of the K-Pet Super League table again as the only side with three wins out of three at the start of the season.
The Lefkoşa side brought their points tally to nine with a 2-1 win away to İskele’s Gençler Birliği last Saturday, with the goals coming from Emin Atabek after a corner kick in the 11th minute and a John Ebuka penalty in the 56th minute.
İbrahim Köse netted the hosts’ consolation goal eight minutes later from the spot after Yenicami’s Kenneth Ngwoke had fouled Mustafa Tekpınar in the penalty area, but the result left them in 15th, one from bottom, with two losses and one draw so far.
Mağusa Türk Gücü held on to second place, on seven points, by beating Türk Ocağı 2-1 away last Friday, goal king Halil Turan scoring the victors’ two within 18 minutes either side of half time and Turgut Kaan pulling one back for the hosts in the final minute’s play.
The third week’s action saw Baf Ülkü Yurdu romp from seventh in the table to third, with six points, following a 4-1 away demolition of Binatlı on Monday, while newly promoted Gönyeli stormed six places up the table into fourth, destroying visitors Doğan Türk Birliği (DTB) by the same scoreline at Lefkoşa’s Atatürk Stadium on Sunday. Mağusa Türk Gücü v Binatlı Doğan Türk Birliği v Gençler Birliği Küçük Kaymaklı v Çetinkaya
Yenicami v Esentepe Girne Halk Evi v Gençlik Gücü Cihangir v Türk Ocağı Baf Ülkü Yurdu v Gönyeli
Azat Berhan Tip scored twice for Baf and Solomonson Izuchukwuka and Chukwudi Joseph Obidiaso netted one apiece, with Hüseyin Taşçı the sole scorer for Binatlı.
Sabri Selden gave Gönyeli their lead in the 13th minute and man-of-the-match John Okoli scored a second in the 56th minute, going to complete his hattrick after Lua Lua had scored for DTB from the penalty spot in the 61st minute. DTB’s third defeat of the season left them rooted to the bottom of the table.
Sunday also saw a “tense” 1-1 draw between Gençlik Gücü and Lefke to see them both slip one place in the table to fifth and sixth respectively.
A Cihangir comeback at Lefkoşa’s Atatürk Stadium last Saturday gave the team its first victory of the season, 2-0 over hosts Çetinkaya, to leapfrog their opponents from 12th to seventh place, while Çetinkaya slipped from fifth to eighth.
Esentepe also seized their first win of the campaign, stunning Girne Halk Evi with two goals in as many first-half minutes before the visitors netted a 90th-minute consolation for a 2-1 scoreline that saw Esentepe rise from 14th to 10th.
Halk Evi, who ended the encounter with nine men after Lawrence Ogbe was shown a red card in the 54th minute and William Hamadou in the 85th minute, crashed from sixth to 11th.
Elswehere, there was disappointment for home side Merit Alsancak Yeşilova, whose dull encounter with winless Küçük Kaymaklı ended 0-0 on Sunday, leaving the sides ninth and 14th respectively.