Kicking off the football season
THE TRNC’s football season has kicked off, with the first match in the K-Pet Super League bringing a 2-0 win for Türk Ocağı Limasol against last season’s runners-up, Doğan Türk Birliği (DTB).
Last Thursday’s game was watched by some 3,000 spectators at Girne’s Mete Adanır Stadium, who saw Türk Ocağı rapidly gain the upper hand, Akande Christian Kotchoni scoring the first goal in the fourth minute.
There were dramatic scenes in the 41st minute when DTB player Emek Kirilmaz netted an own goal to seal the Türk Ocağı victory.
While they took the points to lie second in the league table — one of five teams to take three points from their opening ties — commentators said it had been “an utterly disappointing performance” by DTB, seen as one of this year’s championship favourites after a series of high-profile transfers.
Mağusa Türk Gücü topped the first week’s table on goal difference after thrashing Merit Alsancak Yeşilova 5-0, with “goal king” Uğur Gök netting a hat-trick and Halil Turan a brace.
In other games, last year’s champions Yenicami got their title defence off to a stuttering start, scraping a difficult win away at Binatlı and taking until the fifth minute of secondhalf added time to pocket their first goal of the new season.
Eagles captain Ünal Kaya was declared man of the match for clearing what had took like a certain goal off the line three minutes into added time — and then heading in the only goal of the game two minutes later.
In other games of the opening weekend, newly promoted Gönyeli notched up a 2-1 victory against Girne Halk Evi, with both goals scored by former Yenicami player John Okoli in the 31st and 80th minutes.
Lefkoşa’s Çetinkaya also won, 1-0 against visitors Baf Ülkü Yurdu, Ali Lamin scoring in the 24th minute.
Lefke drew 1-1 against Esentepe and Gençlik Gücü and Gençler Birliği battled to the same scoreline, while Küçük Kaymaklı hosted Cihangir in a 2-2 draw.