Akhmat Grozny 1-1 FC Rostov

Saturday 29 February, Akhmat Arena

Goals: Roshi (49’ pen); Shomurodov (45’)

Man of the Match: Khoren Bayramyan

Eldor Shomurodov went joint-top of the Russian Premier Liga goalscorers charts with his 11th goal of the season on the stroke of half time. Within four minutes of the restart Odise Roshi’s penalty had restored parity.

Khoren Bayramyan had threatened as early as the fifth minute from a throw-in routine. Two consecutive flick-on headers reached the midfielder, allowing him to turn quickly and sting Evgeniy Gorodov’s hands with a sharp shot that was spilled but eventually cleared.

Rostov continued to control the first half. First Maksim Osipenko saw his shot deflected agonisingly wide of the far post from a free kick before Mathias Normann bent a swerving shot just wide from outside the corner of the penalty area.

The pressure told seconds before the break as Shomurodov pounced from 12 yards. Ivelin Popov managed to pick him out with a low cutback and the Uzbek striker made no mistake from near the penalty spot. Such was his confidence that he even had time for an ambitious overhead attempt before the first half ended.

Second after the restart, however, and Akhmat were right back in it after Bernard Berisha went to ground under pressure from Denis Hadzikadunic. Although Pesyakov got a solid hand to Roshi’s spot kick he couldn’t keep it out.

Bayramyan delicately chipped over the defence a few minutes later to create a volleyed chance for Popov which Gorodov kept out at full stretch. FC Rostov then thought they had the perfect chance to retake the lead on the hour mark when Maksim Nenakhov was shown a red card.

He had no initial complaints after having tugged Shomurodov’s arm on the edge of the box. However, he was reprieved by VAR’s intervention which spotted an earlier foul by Normann on Evgeniy Kharin in the buildup.

Debutant Vladimir Ilyin struck a powerful left-footed shot from distance in the sixth minute of added time but straight at Pesyakov, who gathered gratefully.

FC Akhmat host Zenit St. Petersburg in the Russian Cup on Wednesday 4 March before traveling to the capital to face Lokomotiv Moscow in the RPL on Sunday 8 March. FC Rostov welcome CSKA Moscow to the Rostov Arena next on Monday 9 March.

Akhmat Grozny: Gorodov, Bogosavac, Semenov, Nizic, Nenakhov, Glushakov, Kharin (Ismael SIlva 73’), Ravanelli (Ivanov 46’), Roshi, Berisha (Mbengue 90’+5), Ilyin

FC Rostov: Pesyakov, Kozlov, Osipenko, Hadzikadunic, Chernov, Eremenko, Popov, Bayramyan, Normann, Zaynutdinov, Shomurodov