The Saint Petersburg team controlled the ball for most of the match, but failed to create anything dangerous near Vladimir Gabulov’s goal. The visiters lacked creativity in the absence of their key attacker, and Russia’s most expensive player Danni, as an injury has left the Portuguese star out of football until late autumn.

The hosts calmly waited for a chance to counter-attack, and finally got one near the end of the game.

Veteran Dmitry Khokhlov outplaced Anatoliy Tymoschuk on the end of Kirill Kombarov’s cross to give the Blue-and-Whites a 1-0 lead at 84 minutes.

Zenit’s attempts to equalize were cancelled by a red card showed to Igor Denisov, who got his second yellow for the simulation.

The win allowed Dinamo to pass the Saint Petersburg team in the table. The Muscovites are currently in sixth place with 16 points.

FC Moscow 2-0 Rostov

Aleksandr Samedov was left unmarked in the box and experienced no difficulty in putting FC Moscow one up after a smart pass from Héctor Bracamonte.

The hosts then gave away the initiative to Rostov, aiming to preserve their minimum advantage – and they succeeded in their task.

Furthermore, Miodrag Bozovic’s men doubled their lead after 83 minutes, with Martin Jakubko putting his name on the scoreboard.

Spartak Nalchik 0-1 Krylia Sovietov Samara

One goal settled matters between Spartak Nalchik and visitors from Samara. The home team lost concentration in the end of the first half and were punished by Czech Jiri Jarosik on 44 minutes.

Krylia now move to third place in the table, which they share with FC Moscow – both teams have 19 points.

Kuban Krasnodar 1-0 CSKA Moscow

A clever throw-in allowed Alan Kasaev to send a powerful low cross into the CSKA box, the ball slipped under keeper Igor Akinfeev and all Andrey Topchu needed to do was put the ball into the empty net.

Zico’s men have suffered their third loss of the season, but still remain second behind leaders – Rubin Kazan.