Moldova round-up: Title beckons for Sheriff

FC Sheriff Tiraspol made another step towards the title with a 4-0 defeat of FC Agro Chisinau on Wednesday.

Last push
Sheriff are now close to taking the Moldovan title after a fine first-half display against Agro. The league's top scorers Serghey Dadu and Cristian Tudor both shone for Sheriff, with Dadu finding the target once and Tudor twice. Tudor opened the scoring after 38 minutes before the Agro defence conceded two goals in a minute just before half-time, Stanislav Ivanov and Dadu applying the finishes. Tudor added a fourth goal four minutes after the interval.

Slender hopes
Meanwhile, FC Zimbru Chisinau saw their slender hopes of taking the title dashed as they were held to a 2-2 draw against FC Dacia Chisinau. Dacia opened the scoring through forward Mihail Iavorschi after just five minutes but the visitors struck back with a tenth-minute Levan Gvazava effort and an 18th-minute goal from Vladimir Shishelov.

Equalising goal
However, Cornel Popov levelled the scores for Dacia after 61 minutes to earn his side a point and leave second-placed Zimbru 13 points adrift of leaders Sheriff. Zimbru have a game in hand on their title rivals, but they now need Sheriff to pick up less than two points from their four remaining games to have any hope of taking the Divizia A title.

Cup prospects
Zimbru's best hope of taking honours this season is now the Moldovan Cup, where they face FC Nistru Otaci in the final. Nistru continued their preparations for the 21 May game with a comfortable 2-0 win against FC Politehnica Chisinau, thanks to an eighth-minute goal from Ion Gheorghe and a second from Serghey Ianchuk after 32 minutes.

European picture
With ten points separating Nistru from fourth-placed Dacia, they now seem almost certain to join Sheriff and Zimbru in European competition next season. The champions of Moldova take a place in first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, while the runners-up and Moldovan Cup winners enter the UEFA Cup qualifying round. Since Nistru and Zimbru are opponents in the cup final and neither are likely to finish lower than third in the table, both look almost certain to be playing UEFA Cup football in 2003/04.