10-man Ufa grind out goalless draw

Ufa 0-0 Nizhny Novgorod
Saturday 12 March, BetBoom Arena 

Man of the Match: Artur Nigmatullin (Nizhny Novgorod) 
Sent off: Ufa - Kabutov 90+5'

Although Tiago Rodrigues and Egas Cacintura stung Artur Nigmatullin's hands with shots from outside the box, the first half passed without too much drama at either end. 

Former Ufa midfielder Dmitry Stotsky had arguably the best chance for the visitors 15 minutes from time, when he smashed a first-time volley from 12 yards. Aleksandr Beleneov was equal to it though, tipping it over the bar. 

Deep into added time a VAR review was needed to rule out a possible penalty for a stray Lucas Masoero arm that caught RPL top goalscorer Gamid Agalarov in the face, and instead send off Dmitry Kabutov for a late challenge. 

Agalarov has now gone five matches without scoring for Ufa, but his side's goalless draw does at least edge them to within one point of possible safety. 

Ufa remain in the automatic relegation zone in 15th on 17 points, while Nizhny Novgorod stay 11th on 23 points.

Next RPL fixtures: Saturday 19 March - Nizhny Novgorod vs Spartak; Sunday 20 March - Ufa vs Krasnodar