Mitrishev and Rybus fire Terek past Zenit
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Magomed Mitrishev and Maciej Rybus netted a brace apiece to set Terek Grozny on their way to a confident 4-1 home win over ten-man reigning champions Zenit St. Petersburg.
That lifted the Chechens to fifth, nine points behind leaders CSKA Moscow, who play bottom-placed Anzhi Makhachkala on Sunday. Brazilian star Hulk meanwhile was on target for Zenit.
"Before the start I asked my men to keep their concentration throughout the match and they did their best," Terek head coach Rashid Rakhimov said. "We played well-balanced and complete football, and won deservedly today."
Terek were lively from the start, pinning Zenit back from the kick-off and in the 12th minute Mitrishev missed a clear opportunity, shooting over from close range. Polish winger Rybus also had a chance for an opener just a minute later but his shot from the corner of the six-yard box hit the woodwork. In the 32nd minute Rybus helped the ball on to Mitrishev in the area from the right and the latter kept his cool to fire home.
Zenit poured forward in response and striker Artem Dzyuba had the ball in the net in the 39th minute but his strike was ruled out for offside. Terek full back Oleg Ivanov found Rybus unmarked in the area with three minutes remaining before the break and the Polish international tapped the ball past visiting goalkeeper Yury Lodygin.
Nine minutes after the interval, Hulk pulled one back but Mitrishev restored Terek's two-goal lead just a minute later, lobbing Lodygin from an angle. Zenit's slight hopes of saving the day went up in smoke in the 70th minute when second-half substitute Alexei Evseyev received a direct red card for violent play. Rybus rounded off the scoring with three minutes to go.
"Terek played very well from the start," Zenit manager Andre Villas-Boas said. "We came on strong in the second half and got a goal to give us hope but Terek immediately scored again and that was the key to their success."
In Saturday's other matches, strugglers Ufa and Kuban Krasnodar played out a 2-2 draw, while Samara and Amkar Perm played a goalless stalemate.