Kokorin’s goalscoring FC Sochi debut spoiled by Lutsenko double

FC Sochi 1-2 Arsenal Tula

Sunday 1 March, Fisht Olympic Stadium

Goals: Kokorin (64’); Lutsenko (5’, 90’+5)

Man of the Match: Aleksandr Kokorin

Aleksandr Kokorin scored on his debut for FC Sochi but also missed an open goal as Evgeniy Lutsenko’s double gave Arsenal Tula a 2-1 win. The result puts Arsenal up to sixth in the Russian Premier Liga and means they are the only side to have won their last three RPL matches.

Lutsenko stooped low to head in Sergey Tkachev’s excellent low cross after just five minutes. Nikita Burmistrov tried to strike back with an awkward low shot that Levashov couldn’t hold, before threading a simple ball through to an unmarked Kokorin six yards out.

Levashov had been drawn out of position by Burmistrov’s run, but with an almost entirely unguarded target to aim for Kokorin skied his shot over. In the second half, he made amends after wrong-footing Gia Grigalava and keeping his balance to finish a fine individual goal.

FC Sochi pushed heavily with Andrey Mostovoy and Kokorin both shooting from promising positions. After Dmitriy Poloz came off the bench for an injured Burmistrov he should have wrapped up the win two minutes into added time but couldn’t beat Levashov when clear through.

With seconds remaining of the allotted five minutes added on, a complete breakdown of communication between Ivan Novoseltsev and Dzhanaev allowed Lutsenko to gleefully sneak in between them and roll in a winner at the death.

FC Sochi host Ural Ekaterinburg on Sunday 8 March next, while Arsenal Tula take on FC Orenburg the day before.

FC Sochi: Dzhanaev, Novoseltsev, Mevlja, Kalugin, Zaika (Margasov 79’), Tsallagov, Noboa, Nabiullin, Burmistrov (Poloz 79’), Mostovoy, Kokorin

Arsenal Tula: Levashov, Bauer, Belyaev, Grigalava, Kombarov, Causic, Kostadinov, Alvarez, Tkachev (Lomovitskiy 81’), Lesovoy (E. Kangwa 87’), Lutsenko