Rizespor 5-2 Hatayspor: Four Second-Half Goals in Rize Deepen Visitors' Survival Crisis

D. Akintola put Rizespor ahead on 43 minutes with a finish from M. Pala's delivery, A. Sowe drew Hatayspor level from a C. Højer pass on 50, and then four Rizespor goals settled the afternoon. Y. Buz restored the lead on 68, E. Bulut extended it on 72 (A. Zeqiri assist), K. Alıcı added a fourth on 74 (G. Sağlam), and I. Olawoyin made it five on 90 (E. Bulut assist). Sowe completed a brace for Hatayspor in added time, with D. Varešanović assisting on 90+3, to finish the score at 5-2. Rizespor stay ninth on 49 points; Hatayspor remain 18th on 26.

A First Half Decided by a Single Moment

The opening 40 minutes offered little to either side in terms of clear chances. Samet Akaydın collected a yellow card on 41 minutes, the afternoon's first booking, as the match began to carry some physical edge in those final minutes before the break.

Akintola settled the first half on 43. M. Pala's delivery set him up, and the Rizespor forward converted to give the hosts a 1-0 lead at the interval. It was a controlled, largely even period decided by one moment, and Hatayspor were still very much in the match.

Sowe Levels, Buz Restores the Advantage

Hatayspor drew level five minutes after the restart. Sowe received C. Højer's pass on 50 minutes and scored to make it 1-1, giving the visitors a foothold in the second half and raising the genuine possibility of them building further.

That possibility closed quickly. Rizespor retook the lead on 68 minutes through Y. Buz, who scored without a credited assist. The goal arrived during a period where Rizespor were pressing consistently and Hatayspor could not sustain their defensive shape. At 2-1, the hosts held the initiative with half an hour still to play.

Three Goals in Six Minutes End the Contest

What followed was the passage that decided the match. E. Bulut scored on 72 minutes, A. Zeqiri providing the assist, to make it 3-1. Two minutes later, K. Alıcı converted from G. Sağlam's pass to make it 4-1 with 16 minutes remaining.

Three Rizespor goals across the 68th to 74th minutes, each built from structured combination play with clear assist chains, left Hatayspor with a deficit they could not recover from. Six different players contributed as scorer or assist-maker in that six-minute spell alone, a figure that points to Rizespor's collective offensive organisation rather than a single isolated run of luck.

Ayberk Karapo was shown the afternoon's second yellow card on 77 minutes as the closing stages grew more physical.

Olawoyin and Sowe Round Off the Scoring

I. Olawoyin added the fifth on 90 minutes, with E. Bulut providing the assist. Bulut had already scored in the 72nd minute, making him the only player to contribute both a goal and an assist on the afternoon. Rizespor had now found the net through five different players across 90 minutes.

Sowe finished his double in the 90+3rd minute, D. Varešanović supplying the assist to make the final score 5-2. The Hatayspor forward's two goals, both proper team moves rather than consolation scrambles, were the one tangible positive the visitors could carry from the result.

What the Scoreline Means for Both Clubs

Rizespor sit ninth on 49 points following the win, form now reading WWWLW. Three wins from four games at this stage of the season confirms a consistent run, and five different scorers in a single fixture reflects attacking options across the squad. The variety of assist-makers is equally notable: M. Pala, C. Højer on the Hatayspor side, then A. Zeqiri, G. Sağlam, and E. Bulut for Rizespor point to goals being created from multiple sources rather than one set pattern.

Hatayspor's position is considerably harder. Eighteenth on 26 points, form reading LWWDL before this fixture, and a defence that conceded four times in a 22-minute second-half stretch between the 68th and 90th minutes. The problem is not individual output — Sowe's two goals confirmed there is attacking quality in the squad — but a structural fragility under sustained pressure that has appeared consistently enough this season to confirm it as a collective issue. The gap between 18th place and safety does not narrow by conceding five.

SportGlance verdict: Rizespor's three-goal burst between the 68th and 74th minutes was the decisive passage of this match, and five scorers across 90 minutes points to an attack built on collective contribution rather than one player carrying the load. For Hatayspor, Sowe's double was a bright individual note in an otherwise damaging afternoon, and with 18th place and 26 points this late in the Süper Lig season, their remaining fixtures now carry a weight that this result in Rize has only increased.