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On Sunday, four matches of the 18th round were played in Russia, in which the hosts and guests shared two victories each - the favorites "Lokomotiv" and "Zenit" won away, while "Tom" and "Saturn" won at home, including the duel of "Lithuanian" clubs won by "Saturn".
Tomsk's "Tom" and Yaroslavl's "Shinnik" players took the field first. The first half was active only from one "Tom" player, but in the 27th minute, a defender of "Tom" helped by scoring a goal, Hrvoje Vejic. Two minutes later, a penalty kick was awarded to "Shinnik," which was confidently converted by Aleksandr Kulchiy.
In the second half, "Shinnik" took more active actions and managed to earn a penalty kick, which was converted by Brazilian Leilton. In the last minutes of added time, "Shinnik" scored another goal, but the referee did not count it.
At the end of the match, "Shinnik" did not give up and even tried to score a goal with the help of the goalkeeper, but in one of the counterattacks, "Tom" player Aleksandr Mladenov scored the third goal and helped his team win 3-1.
In Rostov, local "Rostov" faced the victorious team from St. Petersburg, "Zenit". In the early minutes, the guests took the initiative and it seemed like "Rostov" was just a visitor in St. Petersburg.
Soon, the active actions of the guests bore fruit - in the 13th minute of the match, Turkish player Fatih Tekke scored. This was his fourth goal in five matches. After the conceded goal, "Rostov" created two dangerous opportunities, but that was all that remained as possibilities.
In the second half, after passes from Andrei Arshavin, "Zenit" scored two more goals and calmed down. "Rostov" managed to score a prestigious goal, but did not do anything more and "Zenit" won 3-1. After this victory, "Zenit" moved up to fourth place in the standings.
In Nalchik, "Spartak" continued their series of "exams" with matches against Russian football leaders. This time they had to face Moscow's "Lokomotiv". However, this time the hosts had to be disappointed. Early goal scored by an away forward from Mali, Dramane Traore, secured a victory with a score of 0-1.
In the last match of Sunday, the "Lithuanian" clubs met - Ramenskoye's "Saturn" and Moscow's "Dynamo". At the beginning of the match, the hosts were more active, but towards the end, "Dynamo" recovered. At the beginning, the game shifted to the center of the field, and later they took the initiative.
After ten minutes from the start of the second half, after a penalty shot, Baffour Gyan's header hit the crossbar, and the first to rush to it was Edgaras Cesnauskis, who scored from a few meters away and led his team to victory.
One minute later, "Saturn" was already leading 2-0, as after a mistake by defenders following a pass from B. Gyan, Igor Lebedenko scored, and later, running completely alone against Z. Karcemarskas and being noted by the hosts' captain Alexey Yeryomenko, "Saturn" secured the victory with a score of 3-0.
Matchday 18 statistics:
Tom 3-1 Shinnik
27’ [1 - 0] Hrvoje Vejic
29’ [2 - 0] Aleksandr Kulchiy (pen.)
53’ [2 - 1] Silva dos Santos Leilton (pen.)
90’ [3 - 1] Aleksandr Mladenov
Zenit 1-3 Rostov
13’ [0 - 1] Fatih Tekke
53’ [0 - 2] Fernando Riksen
60’ [0 - 3] Aleksandr Aniukov
81’ [1 - 3] Maksim Burchenko
Lokomotiv 0-1 Spartak
12’ [0 - 1] Dramane Traore
Saturn 3-0 Dynamo
55’ [1 - 0] Edgaras Česnauskis
56’ [2 - 0] Igor Lebedenko
65’ [3 - 0] Aleksei Eremenko
86’ Danni was sent off from the field (Dynamo).
Edgaras Cesnauskis (Saturn) played until the 85th minute, while R. Džiaukštas (Saturn) was not registered for the match due to disqualification. Ž. Karčemarskas (Dinamo) played the whole match, while R. Poškus (Dinamo) appeared on the field from the 56th minute.
Standings:
