Ufa 1-1 CSKA Moscow
Saturday 16 April, BetBoom Arena

Goals: Ufa - Nikitin 90+5’; CSKA - Fernandes 88’
Man of the Match: Mario Fernandes (CSKA)

Ufa clawed back a critical point in their battle to avoid relegation in the last minute of added time, just when they thought they’d been edged out by a dominant CSKA. The visitors took eight shots to earn their single late goal, while the hosts had not one on target - until Aleksey Nikitin’s last touch of the game. 

One further frustration for the Armymen was just failing to keep a clean sheet on Igor Akinfeev’s 700th appearance for the club, as they failed to win for the third RPL matchday in a row.

Igor Diveev had made a fast return from injury to line up against his former side, and even lashed a 30-yard effort that drew a solid save from Aleksandr Belenov.

Yusuf Yazici finally dropped his remarkable scoring record of every game since joining the RPL, but not for want of trying - Belenov was equal to his fierce drive with about 20 minutes to go.

Just when it seemed CSKA would fall eight points off the pace with five games to go, Mario Fernandes was on hand to stab a messy winner through Anton Zabolotny’s legs and past Belenov.

The drama was saved for added time though. With the last move of the match, Dylan Ortiz headed a hopeful ball back across goal for Nikitin to thump an exuberant header past Akinfeev from dix yards out.

Ufa go 14th on 22 points, while CSKA stay third on 44 points.

Next RPL fixtures: Saturday 23 April - Ural vs Ufa; Sunday 24 April - CSKA vs Dynamo