A last-gasp goal from local hero Serder Serderov gave ten-man Anzhi Makhachkala a 2-1 win over Krylya Sovetov and a place in the Russian Cup quarterfinals Wednesday.
Guus Hiddink’s Anzhi will face either Dynamo Moscow or FC Khimki in the next round after coming back from a goal down and picking up a hotly contested red card.
The 18-year-old Serderov, born in Anzhi’s home city of Makhachkala, scored his first goal for the club when he ghosted in at the far post on 87 minutes to volley Mbark Boussoufa’s corner into the net.
For Anzhi, it was the second time in a row that they had been hot favorites for a cup game that ended up close, after going past second-tier Ural Yekaterinburg on penalties in the previous round.
Krylya took the lead on eight minutes when poor Anzhi marking left Sergei Petrov in acres of space in the box to control Bruno Teles’ floated cross and smack the ball past goalkeeper Evgeny Pomazan.
Anzhi struck back on 21 minutes when new signing Nikita Burmistrov scored his first goal for the Caucasus club since joining last month, picking up a pass from Odil Akhmedov and dummying hapless defender Ivan Taranov before scoring with a low left-footed strike.
Anzhi controlled possession but could not find a way through, and were hurt when defender Rasim Tagirbekov was sent off on 65 minutes for a foul that the referee ruled had denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity, despite energetic protests.
For Krylya, erratic long-range shooting from Pablo Zeballos cost the visitors some chances, with the Paraguayan forward often able to find plenty of space on the edge of the Anzhi box but frustratingly unable to test Pomazan with his shots.
Later Wednesday, Terek Grozny play Lokomotiv Moscow, CSKA Moscow host third-tier outfit FC Tyumen and Dynamo play Khimki.
