Trabzonspor 3-1 FC Metalist Kharkiv

Two late goals earned 10-man Trabzonspor the win they needed to qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League by beating Metalist Kharkiv 3-1.The Turkish hosts led through Essaid Belkalem's strike but an equaliser from Volodymyr Homenyuk and the dismissal of Carl Medjani threatened to undo their hard work.However, Mehmet Ekici fired Trabzonspor back in front late on with Sefa Yilmaz then making sure of the win to seal a top-two finish in Group L for Trabzonspor with a match to spare. It seemed as if neither side wanted the points when the match kicked off, with the crowd forced to sit through a drab opening 30 minutes.However, Trabzonspor finally got their noses in front nine minutes before the interval thanks to Belkamel, who rose to meet a corner from Ekici and headed in from close range.Metalist, who had lost their previous four group matches, had done nothing to inspire in the first half but that changed after the break, with Pavlo Rebenok firing over the bar and Yuriy Tkachuk curling a shot narrowly past the right post soon after in a lively opening spell.Visiting goalkeeper Oleksandr Goryainov was then brought back into the action to deal with a right-footed effort from Ekici, who teed up Oscar Cardozo soon after for a chance which the Paraguayan headed wide.But it was Metalist who found the back of the net after 68 minutes. Rebenok supplied the cross from the left wing for Homenyuk to tuck the ball into the bottom right corner.Things took a further turn for the worse for Trabzonspor in the 78th minute when Medjani was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Sergei Pshenichnikh.Yet instead of capitulating, the home side met the challenge head on and Ekici got the goal his performance deserved four minutes from time, picking up a pass from Yilmaz before finding the mark with a low shot from 20 yards.Yilmaz then added his name to the scoresheet in stoppage time, stabbing home from close range to put the result beyond doubt.ends