Poloz spearheads emphatic Rostov thrashing of 10-man Lokomotiv

Rostov 4-1 Lokomotiv Moscow
Sunday 10 April, Rostov Arena

Goals: Rostov - Schetinin 34’, Osipenko 43’, Poloz 61’, Komlichenko (pen) 70’; Lokomotiv - Isidor (pen) 81’
Man of the Match: Dmitry Poloz (Rostov)
Sent off: Lokomotiv - Tiknizyan 37’

Rostov were handed a reprieve midway through the first half when Mikhail Petrov raced into the box between two defenders and appeared to be tripped; although Yan Bobrovsky initially pointed to the spot, after a few minutes of VAR review reversed his decision.

Wilson Isidor had been standing over the penalty spot waiting to notch in his fifth consecutive game, and then wasted a glorious two-on-two counter-attack moments later - and such is the way with football fortune, after being denied two opportunities to go in front, Lokomotiv fell behind.

Kirill Shetinin’s strike was sensational. Dmitry Poloz resisted the temptation to shoot himself, laying it across to his teammate who was in a far better position, and watching as the curling peach swung into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.

The momentum was entirely with the hosts after this point, as within two minutes of the restart, the visitors were down to 10 men after Nair Tiknizyan was sent off for a late stamp on Rostov captain Danil Glebov. Then a moment of magic from the unlikeliest of sources; Maksim Osipenko found himself the furthest man forward, and after being fed a ball from Glebov, the centre-back danced his way past a couple of challenges in the area and curled a beautiful finish past Daniil Khudyakov.

Osipenko almost bagged his second of the night deep into first-half added time as his snap-shot from a Daniil Khudyakov spilled shot deflected just wide.

Just after the hour mark, Poloz pounced in a flash for his 11th goal of the season. Khoren Bayramyan collected the loose ball after Rifat Zhemaletdinov had lost possession, and lofted a brilliant defence-splitting ball over the top to Poloz, who took a chested touch to steady himself before smashing a delightful half-volley across Khudyakov. 

Moments later Isidor glanced an excellent header from Maciej Rybus’ inswinging corner onto the far post, but as if punishment for daring to reverse the narrative Lokomotiv were pegged further back after Dmitry Zhivoglyadov handled Glebov’s snapshot in the area. Nikolay Komlichenko took the spot-kick instead of Poloz, who had seen his first-ever RPL penalty miss last weekend, to put Rostov 4-0 up. He was only denied a sumptuous second three minutes later by the linesman’s flag, having dinked a delicate first-time chip over Khudyakov.

Isidor smashed home a consolation from the penalty spot after Schetinin bundled over Serkey Babkin just inside the area to maintain his streak of scoring in all of his first five RPL games, but by then it mattered little.

Rostov go 10th on 28 points, while Lokomotiv stay sixth on 37 points.

Next RPL fixtures: Sunday 17 April - Arsenal vs Rostov; Sochi vs Lokomotiv