Putin Cup - Match Day 3 Reports

Lokomotiv Moskva 2 – 0 Zenit

Zenit visited the Lokomotiv Stadium hoping to register their first points of the tournament against the hosts who were looking to keep in touch with groups pace setters.

In a first half of few opportunities Zenit thought they had broken the deadlock on 17 minutes when Rondon latched onto a through ball from Dzyuba and drilled past a stranded Guilherme however the visitors celebrations were cut short by the assistants flag raised as Rondin had strayed marginally offside.

Lokomotiv had to wait a further 19 minutes before they registered their first serious attempt to trouble Lodygin the Zenit goal when Soldado drove a shot from the edge of the are which the keeper did well to get a strong hand to push the ball away for a corner.

Soldado however only had to wait 5 minutes into the second half to open the scoring with a smartly taken shot that curled past a despairing Lodygin and in off the post.

5 minutes later Kiyote spurned the chance of an equaliser when in on goal he chose to place his shot rather than go for power and Guilherme was able to save comfortably.

Soldado nearly made it 2-0 a couple of minutes later with a carbon copy attempt of his earlier goal however this time Lodygin was equal to it.

With the game petering out into a stalemate I burst back into life in the last 10 minutes when Soldado turned provider after some clever interplay with Corluka  set the Croatian up to strike a sweet shot Lodygin could on admire as it whistled past him into the net.

Zenit nearly pulled a goal back at the death when Polis ball through to Rondon was hit first time but Guilherme reacted smartly to make the save.

The result virtually ends Zenits hopes in the competition whilst it keeps Lokomotiv well and truly in the mix .

Dynamo Moskva 0 – 1 CSKA Moskva

This Moscow derby saw the hosts hoping to take advantage of Spartaks night off to top the table whilst the visitors were looking to break their duck.

The Putin Cup has certainly thrown up some tight games with chances being at a premium and this game didn’t buck that trend.

CSKA were the first to try and draw blood on 9 minutes when Benteke latched onto a ball from Obi to fire a shot goalwards that that Gablov did exceptionally well to push away to safety.

On 18 minutes the Belgian turned provider played on Emenike whose shot was too powerful for Gabulov who despite getting a hand to the ball couldn’t stop it from hitting the back of the net.

Razzaque had obviously told his Dynamo side to get stuck in and Ferri was the first of four Dynamo players to find their way in to the refs notebook on 39 minutes. Obi whipped in the resulting free kick which was met by Ramiro but Gabulov was equal to the Brazilians header.

The second half got off to a lively start when Boateng slid a ball through t Antonelli whose low drive was well saved by the diving Gabulov.

On 71 minutes Gabulov was called into action again, this time saving a snapshot from Vazquez.

On the stroke of full time Dynamo thought they had found the equaliser when Ari hit a curling shot from the edge of the area but with Leali beaten the ball drifted the wrong side of the post for the hosts.

Dynamo gaffer Razzaque will rue his side not being able to convert their greater share of possession into goal scoring chances whilst his opposite number Smith will be delighted to have 3 points on the board and be back in the hunt in the tournament.