Bulgaria round-up: Litex clinch UEFA Cup berth

PFC Litex Lovech secured a place in the UEFA Cup with 1-0 home defeat of Bulgarian Premier League champions PFC CSKA Sofia.
 
Eventful game
Litex right-back Nikolay Dimitrov opened the scoring after 15 minutes with a low shot from 25 metres, before Litex captain Zhivko Zhelev was sent off for a tackle on Yordan Todorov after 37 minutes. CSKA's Ibrahim Gueye and Artim Sakiri were both dismissed in the second half, while Litex's Nebojsa Jelenkovic was also shown the red card as the home side held on for three crucial points.

Into Europe
The victory ensured that Litex would finish third in the table, as they maintained their four-point lead over PFC Slavia Sofia with a round of matches left to play. Litex are guaranteed European football as second-placed PFC Levski Sofia won the BFS Cup.
 
Comfortable win
Levski comfortably defeated PFC Dobrudzha Dobrich 5-0 at home with goals from Ilian Stoyanov, Vava, Georgi Markov, Dimitar Telkiyski and a penalty converted by goalkeeper Dimitar Ivankov. Meanwhile, PFC Naftex Burgas overcame PFC Lokomotiv Sofia 3-0 with Miroslav Kosev scoring a hat-trick.
 
Slavia success
PFC Slavia Sofia came from a goal down to win 3-1 against PFC Chernomorets Burgas, who took the lead through Petar Kolev six minutes after half-time. The home side drew level 12 minutes from time as Velimir Ivanovic scored, and it seemed Slavia's chances had disappeared six minutes later as Blagoy Georgiev's penalty was saved by Chernomorets goalkeeper Todor Popov. However, Georgiev then created a goal for Georgi Bachev and scored the third himself in the closing minutes.
 
Spartak victory
PFC Spartak Varna overcame PFC Rilski Sportist Samokov 2-1 with goals from Nikolay Stanchev and Martin Kerchev either side of Aleksandrov's equaliser. Rilski Sportist finished the match with nine men, as Aleksandrov and Kirilov were sent off midway through the second half.

Derby delight
Elsewhere, PFC Marek Dupnitsa and PFC Cherno More Varna played out a 1-1 draw, with Adalbert Zafirov opening the scoring for the side and Krum Bibishekov equalising with three minutes left. PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv scored two late goals to secure a win against local rivals PFC Botev Plovdiv, who went ahead after 34 minutes through Ivan Karamanov, and Doncho Donev missed a penalty for Lokomotiv in the 52nd minute. However, goals by Ivan Paskov and Martin Kamburov in injury time completed a remarkable recovery for the home side.