Bulgaria round-up: Sofia so good for CSKA

PFC CSKA Sofia's charge for the title continue with a 3-0 win against PFC Levski Sofia in Saturday's derby game.

Delight for CSKA
CSKA maintained their 100 per cent record at the Bulgarska Armia stadium as they thrashed reigning champions and fierce local rivals Levski to increase their lead at the top of the A PFG to seven points.

Mukasi strikes
The hosts were ahead after just seven minutes as Levski goalkeeper Dimitar Ivankov fumbled João Paulo Brito's cross into the path of South African striker MacDonald Mukasi whose shot from a tight angle went into the net off the goalpost.

Petrov on target
Ivankov made good saves to deny Artim Sakiri and Velizar Dimitrov as CSKA totally dominated play, but could do little to stop a second goal moments before the interval, as Brito found Svetoslav Petrov, who beat Ivankov from the edge of the penalty area.

Fine goalkeeping
It was 3-0 ten minutes after the restart as Dimitrov capitalised on hesitation by Levski defender Stanislav Angelov and laid the ball on for Mukasi to score a simple tap-in from close range. CSKA could well have added more goals in the closing stages but were kept at bay by Ivankov.

'Better and better'
"We proved that we are much better than Levski, even though they claimed we were a team of no quality before the match," said CSKA coach Stoycho Mladenov. "Our team is playing better and better in every game, but we have not yet shown our full capabilities."

Litex go second
Levski's defeat allowed PFC Litex Lovech to move into second place as they won 2-0 at PFC Spartak Varna. Murad Hidiouad's 21st-minute goal and a 57th-minute effort from Stoycho Stoilov gave the visitors all three points.

Lokomotiv in third
A 1-0 win against PFC Slavia Sofia on Friday night saw PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv move into third place. With Slavia reduced to ten men after the dismissal of Velimir Ivanovic after five minutes, Ivan Paskov scored the only goal 15 minutes from time.

Late goals
Late goals earned PFC Lokomotiv Sofia and PFC Cherno More Varna wins in other top-flight games on Saturday. Lokomotiv dominated at home against PFC Botev Plovdiv, but failed to score until Maltese international Stefan Giglio scored the winner in the second minute of added time.

Bukarev wins it
Meanwhile, Cherno More won 2-1 at PFC Chernomorets Burgas, with Asen Bukarev providing a last-minute winner. Cherno More opened the scoring in the last minute of the first half through former CSKA player Stanislav Rumenov, but Petar Kolev leveled the score for Chernomorets in the 77th minute.

Joy for Kyuchukov
In Dobrich, new PFC Marek Dupnitza coach Ivan Kyuchukov had a fine start to his career at the club, as Hristo Arangelov to help his side overcome PFC Dobrudzha Dobrich.

Match postponed
PFC Rilski Sportist and PFC Naftex's game, which was due to be played today, was postponed until 6 November after Naftex's team coach was involved in a crash with a car at their Kableshkovo training ground in which two girls travelling in the car were killed. The players and coaching staff have been allowed time to recover from the traumatic incident.