Fuelled by a first-half brace from the Senegalese, the Yellow Canaries began the new year with an away win on Monday evening
Fenerbahce defeated Kasimpasa 3-0 in Monday’s Turkish Super Lig encounter, with Senegal international Mame Thiam netting a first-half double.
The Yellow Canaries signed out of year 2020 with a 4-1 bashing of Istanbul Basaksehir on December 23, while the Apaches played out a 2-2 draw with the same team four days later.
With both teams chasing contrasting ambitions, it was the visitors who struck first after 14 minutes at the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Stadium.
Senegal international Thiam fired home from close range, after Dimitrios Pelkas headed Mert Hakan Yandas’ cross into his path.
Erol Bulut’s men could have gone two goals up in the 37th minute, but Enner Valencia’s strike was ruled out for offside by referee Halis Ozkahya after VAR replays.
On the stroke of half-time, Thiam completed his double after beating goalkeeper Ramazan Kose thanks to an assist from Pelkas.
The hosts came out stronger in the last 45 minutes, but they were unable to break down the well-organised visitors.
Fenerbahce has several more opportunities to score, but some poor marksmanship prevented them from extending the lead over the next 30 minutes.
Nonetheless, they wrapped up their win in style through Sinan Gumus’ replacement Ferdi Kadioglu, who chipped Ozan Tufan’s pass over onrushing goalkeeper Kose with four minutes left to play.
Thanks to his brace against his former club, Thiam has now scored three goals in 11 Turkish Super Lig games of the 2020-21 campaign.
He was substituted for compatriot Papiss Cisse with 11 minutes left on the clock while on-loan Aston Villa striker Mbwana Samatta came on for Valencia in the 74th minute.
DR Congo international Marcel Tisserand was in action from start to finish, whereas Moroccan midfielder Nabil Dirar was not listed for action by manager Bulut.
For the misfiring hosts, Tunisian defender Oussama Haddadi, who is on loan from Al-Ettifaq, played for all 90 minutes, but the Guinean duo of Bengali-Fide Koita and Julian Jeanvier, as well as Cote d'Ivoire's Gerard Gohou and Ghana's Gilbert Koomson, were not dressed for action.
With this result, Fenerbahce moved to fourth on the Turkish elite division log, having accrued 29 points from 15 outings.
They welcome Alanyaspor to Sukru Saracoglu Sports Complex in their next outing on Thursday.