Ilyin haunts old side Ural with winner for threadbare Krasnodar

Krasnodar 2-1 Ural Ekaterinburg
Monday 7 March, Krasnodar Stadium

Goals: Krasnodar - Spertsyan 59’ (pen), Ilyin 65’; Ural - Bicfalvi 79’
Man of the Match: Vladimir Ilyin (Krasnodar)

Vladimir Ilyin thought he had handed a decimated Krasnodar side the lead against his former side after half an hour in the scrappiest of fashions - Aleksey Ionov’s distance shot was deflected into Ilyin’s path before a challenge from Ilya Pomazun was spilled and subsequently poked in - but VAR spotted a handball and ruled it out.

Technology confirmed a decision in their favour after the break when a penalty was awarded. Eduard Spertsyan stepped up, and despite Pomazun diving the right way, he couldn’t keep out the Armenian’s pin-point bottom corner spot kick.

Ilyin found the net again five minutes later, and this time his strike stood. After a rapid counter attack he took aim with his weaker left foot from the edge of the box, and a massive deflection of Ivan Kuzmichev wrong-footed Pomazun.

Eric Bicfalvi gave Ural hope with a well-placed left-footed effort into the top corner with just over 10 minutes to go, and was denied by some Matvey Safonov heroics in goal.

Krasnodar go fifth on 32 points, while Ural remain 13th on 19 points.

Next RPL fixtures: Sunday 13 March - Ural vs Akhmat; Spartak vs Krasnodar