Week fourteen of the Rosgosstrakh Championship of Russia commenced on Saturday with Zenit Saint Petersburg extended its unbeaten form, laying further pressure on the field to stay abreast of their charge.
Alaniya Vladikavkaz - Tom Tomsk 2:1
The weekend got underway with Alaniya Vladikavkaz coming from the behind to defeat visiting Tom Tomsk 2-1.
Following their disheartening loss to Lokomotiv Moscow, Vladimir Shevchuk made four changes to his Alaniya line-up, bringing in Yuriy Kirillov, former CSKA Sofia-man Ivan Stoyanov, Boris Rotenberg and Ibrahim Gnanou. Valeriy Nepomnyaschy, who saw his side run roughshod by Anzhi last week, moved Artyom Dzyuba to the bench and brought in Georgiy Dzhioev and Kim Nam-Ilas he went with Belarusian international Sergey Kornilenko as the lone striker up top.
The match began with a well-disciplined start as neither side wanted to give up too much space. A morsel shy of the quarter-hour, Tomsk drew first blood as Ibrahim Gnanou brought down by Sergey Kornilenko as the striker surged into the area on the left channel, resulting in match day referee Maxim Layushkin adjudging a penalty. The Belarusian striker calmly stepped up and drilled the ball into the back of the net to give Tomsk the 1-0 lead.
After the restart, Alaniya began to probe with greater effectiveness and at the fifty-ninth minute Alexandr Marenich latched onto a long ball before surging into the area on the left channel and rocketing his effort in from twelve metres. Within two minutes, Valeriy Nepomnyaschy summoned Artyom Dzyuba into the Tomsk line-up with Andrey Ivanov coming shortly thereafter but with twenty minutes remaining, Alaniya notched the winning goal as Ibrahim Gnanou heading in a corner from the right. The balance of the contest was completely in Alaniya's favour as they laid claim to the full three points with a 2-1 victory.
Rostov - Zenit Saint Petersburg 1:3
Top to the table Zenit Saint Petersburg continued its recent upsurge with an assuring 3-1 victory over host Rostov.
The Italian tactician, ahead his sides opening Champions League qualifier against Romania's Unirea Urziceni on Tuesday, made four changes to his most recent lineup. Former FC Moscow man Yuriy Zhevnov made his first start in a league match for Zenit as Vyacheslav Malafeev away tending to personal matters, along with Viktor Faitzulin, Fernando Meira and Alessandro Rosina.
Behind the support of their voracious supporters, Oleh Protasov's side, after an early advance by Zenit, began to press forward with Alexandru Gaţcan testing Yuriy Zhevnov from the edge of the area. Rostov was holding Zenit back but just before the break, Alessandro Rosina surged down the right channel and sent a cross to the back-post as he approached the dead-ball line that Alexandr Kerzhakov turned in for the 1-0 lead.
At the re-start, Oleh Protasov ushered Alexandr Pavlenko in for Dmitriy Akimov but only five minutes in Zenit extended the lead when Danny latched on the long ball before scoring from the edge of the area. Zenit continued their onslaught and with twenty minutes remaining, went in front 3-0 as Danny, via a flanking long ball on the left, cross for Viktor Faitzulin who scored his first goal of the campaign from ten metres. As time ticked down, match day referee Alexandr Kolobaev assessing a penalty when Alexandr Anyukov brought down Igor Lebedenko was brought down in the area. In the ensuing effort, Igor Lebedenko drove the ball to the bottom right corner for the consolation marker, with Zenit Saint Petersburg claiming the 3-1 victory.
Rubin Kazan - Dynamo Moscow 2:0
Rubin Kazan maintained pace with league leaders Zenit Saint Petersburg with a 2-0 victory over visiting Dynamo Moscow, in a match that marked the debut the White-Blues highly promising young attacker Irakli Logua.
Kurban Berdyev’s Rubin Kazan side, awaiting the debut of former Newcastle striker Oba Martin's and without Alexandr Bukharov for the first time since his move to Zenit, summoned Petr Bystrov, Macbeth Sibaya and Rafal Murawski into the starting eleven. Miodrag Božović adjusted his Dynamo line-up with Alexandr Kokorin coming in for Andriy Voronin who suffered an injury in pre-match warm-up and Aleksey Rebko. After a quiet opening half whether neither side able to post a noteworthy effort, Rubin took the lead five minutes shy of the hour as on fast counter Alan Kasaev surged into the right side of the area before sending the ball into the roof of the net from six metres out. Only nine minutes later, the goal scorer added his second of the evening as he surged worked his way off the left flank, out manoeuvring three Dynamo defenders before sending a booming effort from just outside the area into the back of the net. With twenty-one minutes remaining, Miodrag Božović introduced attacker Irakli Logua in for his debut of the top flight and though the teen phenom did not have an impact, he is name to watch in the future. Through the balance of time, Rubin limited Dynamo's advances, in route to a 2-0 victory.
Prepared by John Davies for Sport Express
... but nothing matches the thrill and challenge of having money on the line!
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