RPL Matchday 7
Fakel Voronezh 1-4 Spartak Moscow
Saturday 27 August, Central Stadium of Trade Unions

Goals: Fakel – Dashaev (23); Spartak – Zobnin (51), Denisov (57), Promes (90+4), Rybus (90+6)
Man of the Match: Ruslan Litvinov (Spartak)

It was first trip to Voronezh for the Red-Whites since 2001, the year when Spartak became nine-time Russian champions, while Fakel was relegated from the top division and never entered it for the next 21 years. Previous impressive performances gave Fakel points against Krasnodar and Dynamo, and this side again showed their skills on set pieces. Aleksandr Maksimenko saved the first shot from Sergey Bozhin after the corner kick, but the second chance turned into a goal, as the defenders left alone Aslan Dashaev, the man who scored first Fakel goal in the league and now got his second.

Spartak reacted seriously in the second half, mostly thanks to Anton Zinkovsky, whose activity led to two goals. Firstly, Roman Zobnin got the rebound after Zinkovsky tried to shoot, and he spined the ball to the right corner. Secondly, Daniil Denisov got the pass from Zinkovsky and sent the ball to the left corner, so he celebrated first career goal in the RPL. Unfortunately, Zinkovsky spent only 20 minutes after the break, shoulder injury prevented him to play further, so Maciej Rybus came on the field.

Aleksandr Maksimenko kept the goal dry in the second half, and in the final minutes the Red-Whites increased the lead. Quincy Promes scored into the top corner and became the unanimously leader of the RPL scorers race again with seven goals. Later he added an assist, which was converted by Rybus.

Spartak come back to first place on 16 points, while Zenit will face their MD 7 opponents from Ural tomorrow. Fakel stay 14th with four points and remain winless.

Next RPL fixtures: Saturday 3 September – Pari NN vs Fakel; Sunday 4 September – Spartak vs Zenit