Another loss for John Boye in Turkey

John Boye’s hopes of saving Kayseri Erciyesspor from Super Lig relegation are diminishing by the match, and his Turkish side were defeated again at the weekend.

The Blue Dragons welcomed Sivasspor to the Kadir Has Stadium on Monday evening looking to close the gap between themselves and 15th place.

However, by the end of play—with every team in Turkey now having played 29 matches—things look as bleak as ever for Ercyiesspor following a disappointing 3-2 defeat.

Boye’s side are in the worst form of any in the top flight, and they are quickly running out of opportunities to make up ground on Caykur Rizespor, who currently occupy the coveted 15th position.

Indeed, if any of the trio in the relegation zone are to escape, it looks like being Karabukspor, who put daylight between themselves and Erciyesspor with a 2-0 victory over Rizespor on Saturday.

The Kardemir club have now won two of their last three.

By contrast, Boye and his teammates haven’t picked up three points since February 20, and have lost seven of their eight matches since then.

Morale was buoyed last when a late Jacques Zoua equaliser gave them a point against Balikesirspor, but draws are not enough for Fatih Tekke’s side at this late stage.

Against Sivasspor they started well, and even held a 2-0 first-half lead following a goal from Ogulcan Caglayan and a Bjorn Vleminckx penalty.

It could—and possibly should—have been 3-0 before the break, as Vleminckx saw another effort rattle the woodwork.

That miss was to prove costly, while Cicinho kept Sivasspor alive with a last-ditch clearance just after the break.

This appeared to galvanise the visitors, who roared back into the contest, but only broke Erciyesspor’s resolve after a blunder by keeper Zulkuf Ozer.

This mistake gave Sivasspor a way back, and they completed the turnaround in the dying stages when Burhan Eser equalised on 88 minutes before securing a winner two minutes later.

It’s not over for Boye and his teammates, but they will need to turn things around and start picking up wins as soon as possible if they are to stand any chance of avoiding the drop.