Lokomotiv, Dinamo share spoils, Rostov stumble at Krasnodar
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Second-placed Rostov failed to narrow the gap to the Russian Premier League leaders CSKA Moscow as they suffered a 2-1 defeat at FC Krasnodar.
A precise spotkick by Pavel Mamaev and an injury-time winner by Francisco Wanderson set last-season's third place finishers Krasodar on their way to a well-deserved win, which lifted them up to sixth. The result left Rostov in second, six points behind league leaders CSKA Moscow and equal on points with two-time former champions Lokomotiv Moscow, who played out a 2-2 draw with city rivals Dinamo. Reigning champions Zenit St. Petersburg, who were beaten 4-1 at Terek Grozny on Saturday, sit fourth two points further back.
After a goalless first half, Rostov defender Denis Terentiev was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 83rd minute. Krasnodar soon made the visitors pay as Mamaev put his side 1-0 up in the 86th minute from the spot after Ricardo Laborde was brought down in the area. Rostov's Iranian forward Serdar Azmun pulled the scores level just two minutes later with a close-range header but second-half substitute Wanderson netted Krasnodar's winner from the edge of the penalty box in the second minute of stoppage time.
"It was a very difficult match as both teams battled for the win," Krasnodar manager Oleg Kononov said. "But in the very end we looked a bit more fresh, showed slightly more desire and managed to score the decisive goal."
Meanwhile, at Khimki arena full back Vitaly Diakov put Dinamo into the lead in the 25th minute with a precise penalty after Lokomotiv goalkeeper Marinato Guilherme brought down Alexei Ionov in the area. Midfielder Alexander Samedov and Brazilian striker Maicon scored one apiece in the second half to turn the match on its head but Diakov saved the day for Dinamo with his second goal in injury time.
Elsewhere, Russia's most successful club Spartak Moscow also recorded a 2-2 draw at Rubin Kazan to go up to fifth. Cape Verde forward Ze Luis put Spartak into the lead in the 51st minute but Ukrainian striker Marco Devic cancelled that out 20 minutes later. Dutch midfielder Quincy Promes lifted Spartak 2-1 up from the spot with 16 minutes to go but Georgian full back Salomon Kverkvelia equalised four minutes into stoppage time.
"It was an interesting match, which kept the fans in suspense until the last moments," Spartak head coach Dmitry Alenuchev said. "Of course we wanted to win and did our best for the victory today but the late defensive blunder dashed our hopes to get all three points."