 How many times have we said, "Super-Sub Semih came off the bench and changed the game"? Well, we will have to say it once more because that is exactly what what he did yet again.
Fenerbahce kick-started match week 27 knowing that a win against bottom club Kasimpasaspor would put them top of the league and increase the pressure on title rivals Besiktas, Galatasaray and Sivasspor who play over the weekend.
Despite the major prize at stake the first half was a non-event starting and ending at a very slow pace with no real creativity from either side.
As the teams went in for the interval the home fans could be excused for thinking 'oh no, not again' fearing more dropped points against a team from the bottom half of the table.
The start of the second half was no different from the first and that triggered Zico's first change. Just as he did last week, the Fenerbahce coach replaced Selcuk Sahin with Semih Senturk reverting from a 4-4-1-1 to a 4-3-1-2 formation.
Semih's introduction immediately sparked life into the team and less than 10 minutes after coming on he made his first telling contribution. The Fenerbahce forward played a defence-splitting pass to Gokhan Gonul on the right flank who cut the ball back to an unmarked Alex de Souza to tap in and finally break the deadlock on 67 minutes.
Semih then put his own name on the score sheet converting the rebound from Alex's shot 5 minutes from time. Deivid de Souza was also on the mark making it 3-0 deep into stoppage time.
Before Fenerbahce got their two goal cushion, Kasimpasa came close to levelling the score on 78 minutes through an Erhan free kick, but Serdar Kulbilge was equal to it.
The Fenerbahce goalkeeper has been very impressive since coming in for the suspended Volkan Demirel and it will be interesting to see who Zico picks for the crunch game against Besiktas next week.
One player that will not be making his way to Inonu Stadium however, is Deivid de Souza. The impressive Brazilian was booked for a cynical handball which leaves him suspended for that match.
anglofeb.com Man-of-the-Match | Semih Senturk
His introduction completely transformed the game once more. At anglofeb.com we have decided to give Semih Senturk our very own nickname. From this day forth we will refer to him as 'The Transformer'.
FENERBAHÇE:
Serdar, Gökhan Gönül, Lugano, Edu, Vederson, Deivid, Mehmet Aurelio, Selçuk (Semih 58), Uğur Boral (Maldonado 82), Alex, Kezman
KASIMPAŞASPOR: Tolga, Fatih, Askou, Ömer, Alparslan, Erhan, Merthan (Fransergio 86), Barbaros (Yekta 71), Özgür, Murat, Desire (Ademoviç 51)
GOALS: Alex (67), Semih (85), Deivid (90+3)
YELLOW CARDS: Deivid (Fenerbahçe), Barbaros (Kasımpaşaspor)
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