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In the "Premier" league of Russia, the 3rd round matches took place. Quite unexpectedly, the championship leader became Tomsk's "Tom" club, which won their third victory by taking advantage of a draw between "CSKA" in the Moscow derby. Moscow's "Lokomotiv" was forced to surrender to the league newcomer Nalchik's "Spartak", while Edgaras Česnauskis stood out in the duel between "Dynamo" and "Saturn".
In the first round match, Moscow's "Torpedo" met Perm's "Amkar". The quite boring match ended in a 0-0 draw, marking the first point "Amkar" won this season and only the second point earned by "Torpedo".
Moscow's "Dynamo", which could not find a successful game, faced Ramenskoye's "Saturn". In the first half of the first half, "Dynamo" attacked more and "Saturn" goalkeeper Antonin Kinski had to save his team from conceding goals in various ways, but the first goal of the match fell into the "Dynamo" goal. Edgaras Česnauskis, sprinting on the left flank, bypassed the defender and accurately shot the ball into the goal. Ten minutes later, "Saturn" had the opportunity to double the score, but they failed to capitalize on their chances.
The second half started without any changes. "Dynamo" players failed to create attacks, and "Saturn" could have scored a second goal, but the guests did not get to enjoy the three points and victory since in the 85th minute, "Dynamo" player Aleksandr Semshov equalized the score.
On Saturday, the first to start the matches were the two Moscow clubs - "Spartak" and "CSKA". This season, they had already fought for the Russian Super Cup, and then the "CSKA" players were victorious with a minimal advantage of 3-2. It was expected that the Saturday meeting would also be interesting. The Russian "Premier" league did not dare to appoint a local referee for these matches, so the match was officiated by referee Massimo De Santis from Italy.
The first half started with mutual attacks, and the ball in the midfield almost did not stay still. Players from both teams had several opportunities to score. The second half started just as actively, but there were no goals until the 59th minute when "Spartak" players committed a foul near their penalty area, resulting in a penalty kick towards their goal.
The ball was passed to Yevgeny Aldonin, who swiftly shot towards the goal. The goalkeeper could not clear the ball far away, and "CSKA" forward Vágner Love took advantage, being the first to the ball and scoring the first goal of the match. However, "CSKA" did not enjoy the lead for long. One of the "Spartak" players passed the ball towards the "CSKA" goal, and goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev rushed out of the penalty area trying to stop the attack, but the ball hit his hand. The referee immediately showed the young goalkeeper a red card and awarded a penalty kick to the "CSKA" goal.
This time a similar situation repeated - the goalkeeper saved the first shot but "Spartak" captain Yegor Titov was the first to the rebounding ball and equalized the score. The fiercely contested match ended in a 1-1 draw. In Yaroslavl, the local "Shinnik" met Tomsk's "Tom". The hosts tried to control the midfield and the course of the match at the beginning, but due to the absence of main defenders due to injuries, they gradually lost initiative to the "Tom" players. The first half ended without goals, and only in the second half, "Tom" managed to score with Aleksandr Mladenov's goal. With a 0-1 victory, "Tom" became the sole leader of the league table.
On Sunday, the first match was played by Kazan's "Rubin" and Vladivostok's "Luch-Energiya". In the first half, the guests dominated the field, but the second half saw a radical change, and in the 64th minute, the hosts scored three points by excellently converting a penalty kick.
In Moscow, "Lokomotiv" met Nalchik's "Spartak". The newcomers from Nalchik had already proven that they could play football, and in this round, after a fluctuating and tense duel, in which both teams finished with ten players, they sensationally defeated "Lokomotiv" with a score of 2-3.
In the last match of this round, a minimal victory of "Moscow" was recorded with a 1-0 against Samara's "Krylya Sovetov" team, for whom this was the first defeat. The only goal of the match was scored by Dmitry Kirichenko, and his accurate shot helped the "Moscow" team rise to fourth place in the league table.
3rd round statistics:
0 - 0
1 - 1
23` [0 - 1] Edgaras Česnauskis
85` [1 - 1] Aleksandr Semshov
Z. Karčemarskas ("Dynamo") was registered for the match but did not appear on the field. E. Česnauskis ("Saturn") played until the 71st minute, and he was replaced by R. Džiaukštas ("Saturn").
1 - 1
59` [0 - 1] Vagner Love
63` [1 - 1] Yegor Titov
I. Dedura ("Spartak") was not registered for the match. D. Šemberas ("CSKA") was registered for the match but did not appear on the field.
61` Igor Akinfeev ("CSKA") was sent off from the field.
0 - 1
75` [0 - 1] Aleksandr Mladenov
67` A. Skerla ("Tom") appeared in the match from the 67th minute.
1 - 0
64` [1 - 0] Alejandro Dominguez
2 - 3
10` [0 - 1] Sergey Pilipchuk
69` [0 - 2] Eduard Korchagin (11 m.)
73` [1 - 2] Dmitry Loskov
77` [1 - 3] Sergey Pilipchuk
87` [2 - 3] Gary O'Connor
47` G. Gogua ("Spartak") was sent off from the field, 60` V. Evseev ("Lokomotiv").
1 - 0
22` [1 - 0] Dmitry Kirichenko
E. Raziulis ("Krylya Sovetov") was not registered for the match.
90` K. Nababkin ("Moskva") was sent off from the field.
League Table
