Week 5 summary

Week five of Rosgosstrakh Championship of Russia continued with defending champions Rubin Kazan climbing to the top of the table after handing Dinamo a thorough 3-0 defeat.

While only a temporary solution the Valery Karpin “era” for Spartak Moskva began with an important 2-0 victory over Terek Grozny. While the victory wasn’t “convincing” and it was obvious the Spartak machine is not running on full cylinders, the return to the win column was important. Although there have been many high profile managers noted for the vacant position, Mr. Karpin’s words prior to the match has been cited as the beacon to guide the players through tumultous times. In his first decisions as manager Russian U-21 keeper Soslan Dzhanayev was handed goalkeeping duties and youngsters Yevgeni Makeyev and Artem Dzyuba entered the starting eleven. After a scoreless start to the match veteran Denis Boyarintsev was the source of the opening goal as his cross into the box was parried out by Grozny ‘keeper Andriy Dikan straight to Vladimir Bystrov to which the Russian international plowed the ball into the back of the net. Ten minutes later with Grozny exposed in the back, Spartak leap on the counter with Artem Dzyuba provided Welliton for a perfect finish from the top of the box to bring the match to the final 2-0 scoreline.

FC Moskva continued their impressive start to the campaign with a 1-0 defeat of Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast. Despite the scoreline the match featured exciting action from start to finish with both ‘keepers having a brilliant day. From the snow filled start of the day the Citizens were having trouble with Jürgen Röber’s attacking pulse, particularly the inspired play of a youthful playing Vadim Evseev and the quality work of Benoît Angbwa. After the break the action continued and after a series of advances fell for naught for both sides Miodrag Božović’s grabbed the needed goal at the seventy-sixth minute when Aleksei Rebko’s cross from the right-side was bashed in from close range by Boca Juniors-product Héctor Bracamonte for the 1-0 victory.

Tom Tomsk rewarded its home supporters fans with a 1-0 victory over Spartak Nalchik. After a number of close efforts by the host Tomsk side fall short, notably from Viktor Stroyev and Dmitri Michkov manager Valeri Nepomniachi called up for Belarus international Sergei Kornilenko for the final twenty minutes. Only seven minutes later a cross into the box was cleared poorly and headed back by Goran Maznov by Kornilenko for a close range finish. Tomsk gets ready now for a difficult test against FC Moskva whilst Nalchik welcomes struggling Amkar Perm.

In the final match on Saturday Oleg Dolmatov’s Rostov might have problems finding the score-sheet but once they proved to be a formidable defending unit. With perfect disciplined play they held Kryliya Sovetov to a scoreless draw and have only given up two strikes in the first five weeks.

Sunday’s lineup started with Amkar Perm’s first victory of the campaign as they defeated Kuban Krasnodar 1-0 via Ivan Cherenchikov’s goal fifteen minutes into the match. Following the match Krasnodar manager Sergei Ovchinnikov expressed the difficulty in playing in Amkar in respect to the substantial home support. Amkar looks to continue their winning form as they travel to face Spartak Nalchik next Sunday whilst the Cossacks welcome Lokomotiv Moskva.

CSKA Moskva devoured Khimki 3-0 with Serbian international Miloš Krasić providing three goals. (full report here).

Finally Lokomotiv Moskva held Zenit Saint Petersburg to a 1-1 draw at home. Dick Advocaat’s side had been the consensus top team in Russia in the early start of the campaign but they met their match on Sunday as Lokomotiv were stubborn defending. Two minutes before the hour mark, following a foul on Konstatin Zurianov, the Russian international free-kick into the box was headed-in by a soaring Kim Dong-Jin to give Zenit the one goal advantage. However any thoughts of returning home with three points was squashed as twelve minutes later Rodolfo, formerly of Dynamo Kyiv, got on the end of a corner that had been flicked on a sent it to the back of the net. Lokomotiv were forced to play a man-down the final eleven minutes as Marko Baša was red-carded but Zenit could not break through and the match ended in a draw. Zenit welcome Khimki to Petrovski next Saturday whilst Lokomotiv travels to face Kuban Krasnodar.

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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