Wánderson’s Aim and Dykan’s Magic Let the Bulls Finish Second in the League Table after the 1st Round

FC Terek (Grozny) – FC Krasnodar – 0:1 (0:1)

Goals: Wánderson, 18 (Izmailov).

FC Terek (Grozny): Hodzyur, Utsiev, Ferreira, Komorowski, Adílson Warken (Kuzyayev, 78), Lebedenko, Maurício, Ivanov, Rybus, Bokila (Aissati, 69), Aílton.

FC Krasnodar: Dykan, Petrov, Martynovich, Sigurðsson, Kaleshin, Gazinskiy, Pereyra, Izmailov (Burmistrov, 90+2), Mamayev (Adzhindzhal, 64), Joãozinho, Wánderson (Ari, 76).

Yellow cards: Aílton, 67 (unsporting behaviour) – Izmailov, 41 (foul play), Gazinskiy, 48 (foul play), Ari, 86 (unsporting behaviour), Pereyra. 90+3 (foul play).

Referees: Nizovtsev (Nizhny Novgorod), Gavrilin (Vladimir), Usachev (Rostov-on-Don).

30 November. Grozny. Akhmat Arena. Cloudy. 3 degrees. 14 353 spectators.

Just a month and three days after the clash that took place in Krasnodar the Bulls met FC Terek again, in Grozny now. Due to suspensions the home team was missing two key defenders for the match, namely Andrei Semyonov and Fedor Kudryashov, but these losses were almost nothing compared to those the Krasnodar team suffered.

Bystrov, Akhmedov, Jędrzejczyk and Granqvist did not arrive to the capital of Chechnya because of the injuries, and Laborde also joined them and stayed at home after catching a cold literally on the matchday. The match sheet of the Bulls listed just five substitute players including Marchenko, a young pupil of the Club Academy; also, Martynovich and Izmailov, both not fully recovered after sustained injuries, made a start in the game. Far all that the whole team approached this fixture in a run-down state having played in the previous 7 days two rather energy consuming matches vs. PFC CSKA Moscow and LOSC Lille.

Nevertheless, it was FC Krasnodar who dominated the pitch in the first half an hour. As early as on the 3^rd minute Mamayev was ready to attempt a shot from a killing position, but his was stopped by the whistle of the ref observing an offside. 10 minutes later Wánderson burst into the home box from the left, but he let the ball go too far. On the 18^th minute the Bulls scored an opener in an easy and splendid manner. Ferreira made a poor clearance of the ball, the latter landed on Izmailov, and Marat, having evaluated the situation instantly, made a filigree through-pass piercing the whole FC Terek’s line of defense. Francisco Wánderson arrived to a rendezvous with Hodzyur and shot a tunnel through Grozny keeper’s legs.

After taking a lead Krasnodar players for 15 more minutes controlled the game confidently. On the 33^rd minute a fine passing to each other by the players of the visiting team led to a shot by Pereyra on the run; however, the Uruguayan player was unable to handle the ball right and it went into the sky. And then the playing superiority went to Grozny players who kept attacking hard and en masse. Save for the increased activity of the home team, this change of game character was caused by two more factors. Firstly, a definite fatigue of the Bulls who in the autumn run this season had played more matches than any other Russian club. Secondly, Nizovtsev the ref, or to be more precise, completely different tolerance levels set by him for the away and home teams. Thus, while he permitted FC Terek players to conduct the fight for the ball British-style, he would not always do the same for the other team. Anyhow, before the half-time Rahid Rahkimov’s wards were unable to derive anything too valuable out of their ball control and numerous set pieces.

As for the second half, it was started by FC Terek in a super high tempo. Waves of attacks kept rolling one after the other towards the away goal, and it seemed that it required just a tiny bit for the shaky minimal score advantage to shatter in this storm. On the 47^th minute Aílton burst into the away penalty area, dodged past Dykan attempting to come out and made a cross along the empty goal. However Sigurðsson left Bokila behind and defused the situation. Three more minutes passed, and now it was Bokila’s turn to make a drill cross from the flank for Lebenko to meet it one-touch; this time FC Krasnodar keeper was saved by the goalpost that parried the ball away with the latter rolling virtually along the goal-line and finally leaving the pitch.

In order to check somehow this mighty squall the Bulls needed urgently to invent something in attack themselves. And they did! Not only did they invent something, they actually scored once more. The combination once again was started with a classy through-pass by Izmailov, Pereyra did not concede the ball to Utsiev in a tough duel and managed to push it in time through  Komorowski’s legs to Wánderson, and Francisco made a showy kick with an outside of his foot into the low corner of Hodzyur’s domain. However, Krasnodar players did not have occasion to celebrate success, as referee Nizovtsev, for a reason known only to himself, canceled the scored goal and announced the indirect free kick towards visiting team.

Having got off lightly, Groznentsy caught their breath a bit and rushed anew to storm the fortress guarded by Dykan and his partners. The defensive efforts of those, however, were selfless and well-coordinated. Oleg Kononov by turns released to the field of play Adzhindzhal and Ari who did their best to try and push the game into the middle of the pitch and further to the opposite penalty area.

Anyways, the Grozny team had enough strength and emotions for the final assault. It was the time for Andrey Dykan to apply all of his keeper magic owing to which he became one of the prominent heroes of this fixture, while Igor Lebedenko, FC Terek midfielder, became the most unlucky one. Save for the hit goalpost in the beginning of the second half he was close to success twice in the end of the match, but both times the No. 55 was off his luck. On the 77^th minute he was aiming with a header into the corner of the net from 9 meters, but he hit just a few centimeters off target. As late as in the injury time when Dykan parried an aimed volley by Ivanov, Lebedenko left everyone behind at the rebound and made the crossbar jingle noisily as it deflected the ball back to the pitch.

A bit earlier on the 87^th minute Aílton had another chance to save his team when he smartly placed his foot for the drill cross by Rybus from the left side, but FC Krasnodar’s most experience goalkeeper acted beyond praise not just reacting to the ball, but firmly taking hold of it.

Five minutes of injury time generously added by Nizovtsev dragged on incredibly long for the Bulls, but in the end the final whistle arrived recording such a hard-won but very important win for FC Krasnodar over FC Terek, which is the fifth win in a row. Oleg Kononov’s squad obtained three more points and finished the first round of the domestic league championship at the second position in the table. The gap between the Bulls and the leading FC Zenit grew short to 5 points now, and the black-greens are also ahead of FC Dynamo Moscow both by the points the latter got and might get still as the Moscow team has an extra match to be played.

A single drawback of the trip to Grozny for FC Krasnodar was the fourth yellow card this season received by Ari for a silly kick after the whistle that left the striker off the forthcoming local derby vs. FC Kuban Krasnodar.