Russia round-up: CSKA close in on title

Second successive winner
The Croatian striker scored the winning goal for the second successive match, forcing the ball home with 20 minutes remaining after a goalmouth scramble. The narrow victory preserved CSKA's six-point advantage over FC Zenit St. Peterburg at the top of the table with four games left to play.

Zenit in the hunt
Zenit returned to second place - above FC Lokomotiv Moskva, 2-0 winners against FC Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz on Thursday – with a 2-1 success at FC Rubin Kazan. Goals from Andrei Nokolaev and Dmitri Makarov put the visitors in control, although Andrei Skotti pulled back a late goal for Rubin.

Winning warm-up
Lokomotiv's win kept their slender hopes of retaining their title alive and proved ideal preparation for Tuesday's visit of Arsenal FC in the UEFA Champions League. The champions remained third in the standings, nine points behind CSKA.

Dinamo defeat
FC Dinamo Moskva's hopes, however, were effectively ended by a 2-1 home defeat by FC Shinnik Yaroslavl, with goals in either half from Martin Kushev and Anton Khazov rendering Pascal Mendy's late strike useless.

Saturn setback
Sixth-placed FC Saturn Ramenskoye were unexpectedly beaten 3-0 at home by bottom side FC Torpedy-Metallurg Moskva. Héctor Bracamonte twice and Valeri Leonov were the scorers.

Three important points
Another struggling side to record an important victory were SC Rotor Volgograd, 2-0 winners against FC Torpedo Moskva with goals from Nikolai Olenikov and Valeri Yesipov, while efforts from Bernie Wright, Ognjen Koroman and Robertas Poskus gave FC Krylya Sovetov Samara a 3-1 triumph at FC Chernomorets Krasnodarskiy Kray, whose sole reply came from Adrian Sosnovsky.

Spartak shocked
Finally, FC Spartak Moskva were denied by a late Vitaliy Bulyga goal in a 1-1 home draw with FC Uralan Elista on Monday. Roman Pavlyuchenko had put Spartak in front in the first half but it was not enough to claim all three points.