Trabzonspor beat Gençlerbirliği 5-0 at Papa Park on Sunday in the Süper Lig's fourth round. Paul Onuachu scored twice, Mohamed Salah converted a penalty, and Ernest Muci and Franculino Gluda Dju completed the scoring. The result moves the hosts level on points with Gençlerbirliği at fourth place.
Trabzonspor took the lead in the fifth minute through Onuachu, and the momentum shifted after a penalty was awarded to Gençlerbirliği in the twelfth minute. Salah took the spot-kick instead, but the hosts held their nerve and doubled their advantage before the break with another Onuachu goal.
The match turned decisively in the fifty-ninth minute when Muci slipped in to extend the lead. Dju added a fourth in the seventy-eighth, though the away side had already been reduced to managing damage rather than contesting the game. Trabzonspor lost their man at several key moments but didn't pay for it.
The statistics tell the story of a one-sided afternoon. Trabzonspor registered 13 shots on target compared to six, and their expected goals figure of 3.21 dwarfed the visitors' 0.86. Gençlerbirliği had more possession at 51 per cent but failed to create anything meaningful from it.
We had called for a home win beforehand with 43 per cent confidence, and the result vindicated that assessment. Trabzonspor finally looked like a side capable of stringing results together after losing three of their opening four matches.
The hosts remain fourth with seven points, while Gençlerbirliği stay in sixth on the same tally. The goal difference now separates them, and the gap between the two sides feels wider than the table suggests.
