Ural stun Rubin, FC Krasnodar draw
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Ural Yekaterinburg, who narrowly avoided relegation from the Russian Premier League last season, posted a 2-1 win over two-time former champions Rubin Kazan, whose early season struggles continue. The result lifted Ural into sixth, 11 points behind leaders CSKA Moscow. Rubin are in 12th, just one point off the bottom.
"It's a very important win for us," said Ural head coach Vadim Skripchenko. "After we scored an early opener, we gave up the initiative and allowed Rubin to level. But at the break we made some changes which helped us to score the winning goal."
Midfielder Vyacheslav Podberyozkin put Ural into the lead in the third minute beating 'keeper Sergei Ryzhikov with a header. In the 24th minute, Rubin's Brazilian midfielder Carlos Eduardo found the unmarked Elmir Nabiullin who levelled with a close-range header. Rubin dominated after the break but in the 79th minute Ural forward Spartak Gogniev scored with a help of a deflection off Rubin's Georgian defender Solomon Kvirkvelia.
FC Krasnodar, who finished third last season, were held to a 1-1 draw by Terek Grozny. After a dull first half, Terek substitute forward Zaur Sadaev put the visitors 1-0 up with a powerful low shot in the 56th minute. Midfielder Sergei Petrov saved Krasnodar with 18 minutes remaining when he fired home after a free-kick.
"We had excellent chances to score the second goal to get all three points," Terek manager Rashid Rakhimov said. "But instead we allowed Krasnodar to level. In general I consider the draw to be a fair result."