KHIMKI, Russia, September 21 (R-Sport) - Alexander Samedov’s penalty gave Lokomotiv Moscow a 3-1 win away to Dynamo Moscow on Saturday, but the derby was overshadowed by controversial refereeing and the poor state of the pitch.
Lokomotiv continue their resurgence after a disappointing last season and go second in the Russian Premier League with their fourth win in five games and now sit just one point off leaders CSKA Moscow, while Dan Petrescu’s Dynamo stay sixth.
"We deserved to win this game, played a good match, but Lokomotiv's best player was the referee, Sergei Karasyov," Petrescu said. "He officiated poorly ... I've got no criticisms about the lads, they played well."
Lokomotiv coach Leonid Kuchuk refused to comment on the refereeing. "Let's talk about the tactics, the course of the game," he said. "Today Dynamo wanted to do a lot, but we didn't let them do much."
Dynamo had already had a goal ruled out before the winning spot-kick for Lokomotiv, awarded on 74 minutes when the referee ruled Douglas had fouled Dame N’Doye, even though what little contact there was took place well outside the penalty area.
Douglas was given a straight red card to furious protests and ex-Dynamo midfielder Samedov stepped up to take the penalty, sending goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov the wrong way. In stoppage time, youngster Sergei Tkachev polished the scoreline with a calm finish as Dynamo pushed for an equalizer.
Earlier, N’Doye had given Lokomotiv the lead on 51 minutes with a thunderous strike from 25 yards after dribbling from near the center circle.
Dynamo replied seven minutes later when the Railwaymen’s goalkeeper Ilya Abaev flapped at a Balazs Dzsudzsak cross from the left wing and the ball fell to Andriy Voronin and Christian Noboa. The Ukrainian stumbled, but the Ecuadorean stabbed the ball high into the goal.
Voronin was critical in post-match comments, saying: "We were creating chances, but we weren't using them."
The waterlogged and extremely muddy pitch at Arena Khimki constantly impacted the game, with passes going astray and long ball tactics advantageous, and this is likely to increase calls for CSKA's first home Champions League group game to be moved to another venue.
Voronin put the ball in the back of the net late in the first half, but referee Sergei Karasyov ruled the ex-Liverpool man had pushed a defender in the build-up, and ruled it out. Voronin was later harshly critical, saying he had no idea how Karasyov had reached that decision.
Lokomotiv took their chances, while Dynamo's finishing was often poor. For the hosts, Voronin, Noboa, Alexander Kokorin and Igor Denisov all missed the target from good positions, and Abaev was on strong form in the Lokomotiv goal, especially when he produced an acrobatic save late on to deny Dynamo an equalizer, palming away a free-kick that he could not have seen until very late.
Later Saturday, Krylya Sovetov Samara host Ural Yekaterinburg and FC Krasnodar visit Terek Grozny.
Sunday sees the weekend’s second Moscow derby as Spartak and CSKA clash, as well as Anzhi Makhachkala’s trip to FC Volga, Rubin Kazan’s meeting with FC Tomsk, FC Kuban hosting Amkar Perm and Zenit St. Petersburg heading south to play FC Rostov.
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