Dinamo win to close gap on leading pair

Two Andrei Voronin goals took Dinamo Moscow past Krasnodar to close the gap at the top of the Russian Premier League to just three points, as leading pair Zenit St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow could only draw. Zenit had an incident-packed 2-2 draw at Spartak Moscow, while CSKA couldn’t find a way past Dan Petrescu’s FC Kuban for a goalless draw. The results leave Zenit top on 53 points, CSKA in second on 51 and Dinamo trailing in third on 50 after 26 rounds. Dinamo were made to battle to their 2-1 win over ninth-placed Krasnodar, still lacking the effortless penetration that saw them blitz opponents before last week’s shock 1-0 defeat to Krylya Sovietov Samara on a waterlogged pitch. Playmaker Igor Semshov created both of Voronin’s goals: the former Liverpool striker chested in Semshov’s cross from the right to snuff out Yevgeny Shiptsin’s headed opener just three minutes earlier. Voronin then surged forward to get on the end of a cross from Aleksandr Samedov, who had been released by a clever Semshov flick. Samedov is celebrating his first call-up to the national team for their vital Euro 2012 qualifiers this Friday and next Tuesday against Slovakia and Andorra.  “It s was very tricky, but thank God we won,” Samedov said. “The three points are crucial for us at this stage.” At Luzhniki Stadium, Spartak Moscow shrugged off the 42nd-minute sending off of defender Nicolas Pareja to rescue a draw. Substitute striker Welliton swiveled and struck under Zenit goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev from Aiden McGeady’s cross ten minutes from time. Zenit had gone 2-1 up with Aleksandr Kerzhakov’s close-range finish two minutes into the second half. An own goal from Zenit defender Aleksandr Anyukov and an equalizer from Zenit forward Danny had sent the teams into the dressing rooms all square. Kerzhakov, the victim of an apparent punch in the face by Pareja that earned the Argentinean his red card, limped off with an ankle injury that likely rules him out of the forthcoming internationals. Two wins will guarantee Russia qualification from Group B to the finals of next year’s tournament in Ukraine and Poland. In Krasnodar, CSKA Moscow found out exactly why FC Kuban have the meanest defense in the league. Under Petrescu’s tutelage this season, the sixth-placed side have conceded just 22 goals, one fewer than leaders Zenit and CSKA, and the latter didn’t look like changing that statistic on Sunday. Zoran Tosic and Seydou Doumbia missed CSKA’s best chances, while Kuban went close on a couple of occasions and restricted their visitors to speculative shots on goal. Elsewhere, Lokomotiv Moscow continued their fine run under new coach Jose Couceiro by beating Anzhi Makhachkala 1-0 in Dagestan. The hosts’ defense inexplicably left Sergei Ignatiev’s cross to each other, allowing Felipe Caicedo to head in for a training-ground goal. Anzhi hit the crossbar after a goalmouth scramble, and the visitors survived a late onslaught to hold on for the points. Lokomotiv remain unbeaten in the league in the ten matches since Couceiro replaced Yury Krasnozhan in June. Rubin in seventh place maintained their fight for a place in Europe by beating a nose-diving Tom Tomsk 2-0 thanks to an unlikely brace from Italian defender Salvatore Bocchetti. Tomsk are a club in free fall, with eight defeats and one draw - and no goals - in their last nine matches.  In other games, Terek Grozny lost their first match under new coach Stanislav Cherchesov to fellow strugglers Spartak Nalchik, 1-0; Volga Nizhny Novgorod and Amkar Perm both had a player sent off in a match that ended 0-0; and Igor Smolnikov hit a spectacular swerving drive to steal a 1-0 win for Rostov over Krylya Sovietov.