MOSCOW, November 4 (R-Sport) - Anzhi Makhachkala beat Terek Grozny 3-1 on Sunday to take back second place in the Russian Premier League and close the gap to leaders CSKA Moscow to a single point.
Mbark Boussoufa put Anzhi ahead on nine minutes, stabbing home after Yuri Zhirkov had drawn out Yaroslav Godzyur and chipped the goalkeeper into the Moroccan's path.
The second came on 17 minutes when Samuel Eto'o, who also had a hand in the first, charged down an attempted clearance from Terek left-back Dmitry Yatchenko and played Ivorian striker Lacina Traore through for a simple tap-in.
Yatchenko had also been at fault for the first goal, allowing Boussoufa to steal in ahead of him as he lined up a clearance.
Traore turned villain on 53 minutes, hacking down Igor Lebedenko in the area for Bulgarian midfielder Blagoy Georgiev to covert the resulting penalty with a delectable chip.
But Anzhi restored the two-goal cushion ten minutes later. Christopher Samba poked home from close range after Rasim Tagirbekov had headed a free-kick goalwards.
It was the ex-Blackburn defender's third goal since joining Anzhi in February.
The result returned Guus Hiddink's side to winning ways after last week's surprise 2-1 defeat to Rubin Kazan broke a victory streak that had reached seven games.
"We were very sharp today, we made a bit of a stupid mistake with the penalty," Hiddink said in televised comments. "But it was a good game to see and I'm happy with the effficiency."
The win stands Anzhi in good stead for Thursday's home Europa League test against Liverpool.
Terek, meanwhile, remain sixth after their fifth defeat of what has been an impressive start to the season.
Coach Stanlislav Cherchesov was philosophical.
"There are different ways to lose," he said. "You can throw in the towel or you can lose with dignity," he added, insisting it had been the latter against Anzhi.
CSKA had gone three points clear at the top with a 2-1 win over nine-man Lokomotiv Moscow earlier Sunday.
On Saturday, FC Kuban beat Amkar Perm 3-0 to briefly go fourth before Spartak Moscow snatched that position with a 5-0 trouncing of Krylya Sovetov Samara, while Rubin Kazan beat Mordovia Saransk 3-1.
On Friday, Roman Shirokov scored the winner with the last touch of the game as Zenit St. Petersburg beat FC Rostov 2-1.
Sunday's last match sees FC Krasnodar host Dynamo Moscow, and Alania Vladikavkaz’s game against FC Volga rounds out the weekend’s action Monday evening.
