Thanks to the help of Vladimir Romanov we can offer to you a special report from the past match between CSKA and LOKOMOTIV UPI-DDT. Enjoy it!

RUSSIAN SUPERLEAGUE

ROUND 16

FLIGHTS OVER GROUND

In round 16 CSKA won twice. That let it increase a distance from Arbat and better own goals difference. It is curious that both matches ended with the same score. However they developed in different ways. The first victory looked rather easy. The other one seemed very hard…

On Saturday, March, 26 it was clear that there was a meeting between different teams. One team – CSKA - possessed the seventh position in the table, the other team – Lokomotiv-UPI-DDT – went the twelfth, it just wished to save itself not to classify for a lower division. But yet without success, boys from Cheliabinsk are still the worst in Russian Superleague. What could they oppose CSKA? Only will for victory, nothing else. On Saturday they did not manage to create sensation. Red-blue players scored as many goals as they needed to take three points. The fight lasted to the end of the game. But the hosts killed any hope of the opponents. The Antipovs made a result with four balls into UPI net. One more goal was scored by Alexander Kopeikin who returned to the line-up after four months absence. Now CSKA captain feels good though he is far from his best level. However his shot from 6 metres point was excellent. It took everybody in the hall easy.

Alexander Babkin (CSKA head coach):

"I am satisfied with the final result. The victory was achieved without nerves. I liked our first line. The Antipovs as always played usefully. Their activities destroyed UPI defense. The other two players were good too. As for all of them I have got nothing to complain. As for the second line there are still questions. I am disappointed not with their mode of playing but with total missing of goal opportunities. That is not a matter to discuss. We should have corrected our mistakes much earlier. Unfortunately, the last phase of all their attacks ended with nothing. Movement, speed, principles of attacks processing are good. And it is obvious. But there are no goals. That is bad. That is an important reason to work harder than usual"



On Sunday, March, 27 things changed greatly. CSKA had lost till the minute 35. The first part ended without goals for CSKA. The guests from Cheliabinsk defended courageously. They had no fear. They knew they had nothing to lose. CSKA resurrection took place in the second part. Red-blue machine ran faster. UPI-DDT kept on defending as if it had been its farewell match. But the guests, trying to close the Antipovs, Arsh, Sergueev, Kopeikin, could not wait for the danger from Oleg Maltsev, Russian Futsal veteran. In the first part he shot to the post. In the second period of the game his shot from a long distance shocked UPI keeper Bezruchenko. But the next goal looked absolutely foolish for the guests and a gift of fate for CSKA. Maltsev made a long pass from the field line. He did not kick. But one of UPI defenders touched the ball, it changed its direction and flew into the net. Bezruchenko could not “count all the variants”, that is why he was unready to catch the ball. 2:2 – one point was saved.
Then it became impossible to oppose CSKA players. They did not run – they flew over the ground doing all very quickly. Three goals more killed UPI-DDT finally. The last one was a result of the Antipovs combination. Serguei ran as a right wing, he saw his brother Alexander close to the left post. Alexander received the ball but it touched the post and flew away. Serguei standed near and the second shot was mortal. The last CSKA goal meant a logical end of the smart attack and very pleasant second part.

Alexander Babkin (CSKA head coach):

"The first part of the game was awful for CSKA. The defensive line with big holes and some elements of disorientation in attacks led to the horrible score 0:2 after the first twenty minutes. During 10 minutes interval I tried to change this situation to the better. I changed the goalkeeper – Voronin needed a rest, Tolstikhin became playing instead of him. I put Chugunov on the bench. He froze our attacks and his passes to the brothers were not logical. Then I made Maltsev play in two lines and he did not fail me. At last I permitted Zinchenko to act freely on the ground. Fedor was successful though with the third attempt. We absolutely changed the game and won. Everybody wanted no shame. I am sure the guys believed that today everything would be right as yesterday. They thought the match would be simple. They were wrong. But our players awoke when it was necessary and did their work well"




STATISTIC REVIEW


ROUND 16

March, 27
CSKA Moscow – Lokomotiv UPI DDT Cheliabinsk 5-2 (3-1)

Moscow, USK CSKA

Attendance: 500

Referees: A. Selikov (Moscow), A. Murtuzaliev (Makhachkala)

CSKA: Tolstikhin – Kopeikin, Kleimenov, Kovalev, Chugunov, Arsh, S. Antipov, A. Antipov, Sergueev, Somkhishvili, Maltsev, Zinchenko, Kolesnikov.

Lokomotiv-UPI-DDT: Bezruchenko (Piatkov, 21) – Zhiliakov, Kuzvesov, Naumov, Artemov, Khloponin, Fadeev, Briantsev, Shulguin, Martovsky

Scorers: 1:0 A. Antipov (1), 2:0 Kopeikin (8, 6m), 3:0 S. Antipov (12), 3:1 Naumov (17), 4:1 A. Antipov (30), 5:1 S. Antipov (34), 5:2 Khloponin (37).

Yellow cards: Tolstikhin – Martovsky.

Fouls:
1st half 3-5
2nd half 2-2



March, 28

CSKA Moscow – Lokomotiv UPI DDT Cheliabinsk 5-2 (0-2)

Moscow, USK CSKA

Attendance: 500

Referees: A. Murtuzaliev, A. Selikov

CSKA: Voronin (Tolstikhin) – Kopeikin, Chugunov, Arsh, S. Antipov, A. Antipov, Sergueev, Somkhishvili, Maltsev, Zinchenko, Kolesnikov.

Lokomotiv-UPI-DDT: Bezruchenko – Zhiliakov, Kuzvesov, Naumov, Artemov, Khloponin, Fadeev, Shulguin, Martovsky.

Scorers: 0:1 Fadeev (3), 0:2 Artemov (12), 1:2 Maltsev (25), 2:2 Maltsev (35), 3:2 Zinchenko (36), 4:2 Sergueev (37, 10m), 5:2 S. Antipov (40)

Fouls:
1st half: 4-2
2nd half: 4-6

Yellow cards: Artemov, Martovsky, Naumov (Lokomotiv UPI DDT)