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On Sunday, the remaining four matches of the 14th round of the Premier League in Russia were played, after which a three-way tie was formed in the championship. None of the matches were marked by a high number of goals - even two matches ended goalless, one ended in a draw, and the only victory was achieved by Zenit.
The first match of Sunday took place in St. Petersburg, where local Zenit faced off against the bottom-dwelling Yaroslavl Shinnik. The visitors, who needed to start collecting points in order to avoid relegation to a lower league, immediately took action and managed to score a goal, but it was disallowed for offside.
This moment affected the hosts, and they also began to attack with Andrei Arshavin and Aleksandr Kerzhakov leading the charge. At the start of the second half, there were changes in the line-ups of both teams, and one of the players who appeared on the field was Zenit's newcomer Fatih Tekke. Both teams immediately picked up the pace, and the players' speeds increased.
In the 69th minute of the match, Zenit's newcomer scored - his goal allowed the team to take the lead. Zenit did not stop there and sought to increase the score, but the match ended with a 1-0 result in favor of the hosts.
In Moscow, the local Lokomotiv met Amkar from Perm. It is worth mentioning that Sunday in Russia was the day of the railway workers, so everyone expected the main team to present a gift on this occasion.
The first half did not start very actively. The teams were preparing attacks in the middle, but due to inaccurate passes, they lost the ball as they approached the penalty area. The first dangerous moment that could have turned into a goal was created by the visitors, but it was not capitalized on.
In the second half, Lokomotiv's coach sent the team's newcomer - the most productive striker of the first division, Shamil Asildarov - onto the field. However, the team's attacking actions stalled, while the visitors continued to create chances to score.
With about ten minutes left to play, the third striker Gary O’Connor appeared in the hosts' ranks. It seemed like a good decision, and Lokomotiv seemed poised to score a goal, but it was only a matter of minutes. Amkar continued to create dangerous attacks, and towards the end of the match, one of the home team players was sent off the field for a second yellow card, giving Amkar a one-hundred-percent chance, but they did not capitalize on it. The match ended in a goalless draw, and it seems like Amkar gifted a point to Lokomotiv on the railway workers' day.
In another match in Moscow, Moskva faced Tomsk's Tom. In a relatively boring match, the teams had only a few opportunities to score goals, which were not utilized, so the match ended in a goalless draw.
In Nalchik, the local Spartak, who had recently been a leader in the competition, met the visitors from Samara - Krylya Sovetov. The hosts wanted to redeem themselves in front of their fans for the loss against Rostov, and immediately attacked the opponents' goal, but the goal fell into the hosts' net when Matthew Booth scored in the 10th minute.
The missed goal only further motivated the hosts, and they continued to threaten the visitors' goal relentlessly. For a while, Krylya Sovetov's goalkeeper saved the team - the Samara team gradually did not concede and managed to organize counterattacks multiple times. Nevertheless, towards the end of the first half, Spartak Nalchik equalized the score. After a pass from the flank, Eduard Korchagin rejected the ball to Gogita Gogua, who scored a goal with a shot from the penalty area line.
In the second half, the visitors almost did not think about attacking, while the hosts tried their best to score a goal, but were hindered by either defenders or a lack of skill, and ultimately the goalkeeper. The interesting match ended with a 1-1 result, meaning that Spartak Nalchik, based on the number of points in the tournament table, caught up with the defending champions CSKA and the namesakes from Moscow.
Match statistics for the 14th round of matches on Sunday
1 – 0
69’ [1 - 0] Fatih Tekke
R. Poškus and E. Majus (both - Zenit) were not registered for the match.
0 – 0
89’ Emir Spahič ("Lokomotiv") was sent off the field for a second yellow card.
0 – 0
A. Skerla ("Tom") played the entire match.
1 – 1
10’ [0 - 1] Matthew Booth
43’ [1 - 1] Gogita Gogua
E. Raziulis ("Krylya Sovetov") was not registered for the match.
Tournament table
