Bulgaria round-up: Levski bite back

PFC Levski Sofia fought back from two goals down to earn a 2-2 draw against city rivals PFC CSKA Sofia on Saturday.

CSKA in command
Goals from Lyuboslav Penev and Vladimir Manchev put CSKA firmly in control either side of half-time. Penev opened the scoring two minutes before half time with a brilliant free-kick from the edge of the penalty area. Manchev doubled the advantage ten minutes into the second half and Levski looked dead and buried.

Levski strike back
But Georgi Ivanov scored yet another decisive goal for Levski, netting in the 64th minute after a defensive blunder in CSKA's back line. Levski pulled level five minutes later through Georgi Chilikov's header following a corner.

No fun for Simoni
The result means Levski remain seven points clear of CSKA at the top of the A PFG table, and to add to CSKA's misery, their Italian coach Luigi Simoni tore his achilles tendon when jumping from the bench during the match and was taken to hospital afterwards where he was expected to undergo surgery.

Pleven triumph
In Pleven, struggling PFC Beroe caught their hosts PFC Spartak Pleven off guard with an early goal but fell to a 2-1 defeat. The visitors took the lead in the eighth minute through Krum Bibishkov.

Quick goals for Kolev
Spartak recovered quickly, however, scoring two quick goals through Todor Kolev. Kolev struck from the penalty spot after 25 minutes, and netted again two minutes later.

Plovdiv march on
In Dupnitsa, PFC Marek comfortably beat fellow strugglers PFC Chernomorets Burgas 2-0 while fourth-placed PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv continued their push for a European place with a 2-1 away win at PFC Neftochimik. Sasha Vitsiknez opened the scoring for the home side in the 23rd minute but goals from Velko Hristev (57) and Metodi Stoinev (82) handed the visitors three vital points.

Joy for Slavia
Elsewhere, PFC Spartak Varna went down 2-1 at home to PFC Slavia Sofia, while PFC Belasitsa and PFC Cherno More shared the points in a 1-1 draw.