Former Hull City Man Bags Brace As Kocaelispor Coach Rages

Former Hull City man Adama Traore bagged a brace in a controversial match in the Turkish top flight yesterday.

Traore left The Tigers this summer and moved to Amedspor, who secured their first win of the season with a commanding 3-0 victory over Kocaelispor, ending a three-week winless streak in the TFF 1. Lig, Turkey‘s second division.

In a match where Amedspor dominated from start to finish, the Diyarbakır side took full advantage of their opponents’ misbehaviour. Kocaelispor found themselves down to nine men in the first half, with goalkeeper Gökhan Değirmenci hacked down another former Championship player, Britt Assomb­alonga. Not long after, Muharrem Cinan also got a red card, colliding with Mehmet Murat Uçar. The referee initially showed a yellow card, upgraded to a red courtesy of VAR.

That drew the ire of their technical director, as the home side went on to run riot.

Amedspor capitalized on their numerical advantage, with Oktay Aydın opening the scoring in the 32nd minute. Traore then added two more goals in the second half, finding the net in the 62nd and 86th minutes. His first was a spectacular overhead scissor kick after hesitation from one of the Kocaelispor actually left on the field.

Rojbaş @Kocaelispor 😉#Amedspor pic.twitter.com/7QdFCHcrO5

— Amedsporolder (@Amedsporolder) September 3, 2024

Traore might be the name that English fans recognise, but the focus was not on his outstanding performance but on the referee decisions, as reflected in the anger of their Technical Director after the game.

“First of all, I want to say this. It was not a very fair match. Therefore, I do not have much to say about the technical side of the matter. I am sorry on behalf of Turkish football,” said Kocaelispor Technical Director Ertuğrul Sağlam.

“We lost a match today. I will be very short because if I talk for a long time, the process from now on may get into trouble. I just want to say this. We lost three points today, but if we can use this situation well, the city of Kocaeli, its people, our fans, analyze this situation well and display a stance in terms of unity, solidarity, supporting and helping each other from now on, we can create a synergy that will gain much more than the three points we lost today.

“We can produce values ​​that will make our future easier in this way. I think we should evaluate today in this way. Apart from that, there is not much to say about football. I am really sorry on behalf of Turkish football.”

This victory lifts Amedspor to 10th place in the table, while Kocaelispor suffered their first defeat of the season but remain in 4th place.

Site Opinion

This was a fiery match, and while Hull City fans will be interested to see Traore hitting the back of the net, the focus is really on those two red cards. Both looked like reds, but the VAR decision was certainly contentious.

Either way, it’s nice to see two former Championship players in Assombalonga and Traore doing well for their new club. Turkish football is never short of excitement, but it’s also a great standard, and Amed will be hoping for promotion to the top flight this season.