Juniors’ Confident Win

Lokomotiv get the better of Anji during Gameweek 16 of the Youth Championship.

Lokomotiv kicked off their second leg campaign sitting seventh in the tournament table, mere seven points behind the leader. Loko needed victory to make up for two previous losses at the hands of Kuban and Zenit and to cut the gap on the top three.

Rifat Zhemaletdinov and Dmitriy Barinov were outside of the starting 11 this time, however we welcomed back Ilya Lantratov who resumed his duties between the sticks after recovering from a minor injury.

The game was slow in the beginning – be it the cold weather with drizzle, or the contenders’ wary approach, yet the first dangerous moment appeared only on 12 minutes. The Railwaymen started rolling, hit the right gear and were soon whipping balls towards Anji's goal. Miranchuk, Smirnov, Mostovoy created a lot of trouble for the visiting side, but just could not find the finishing touch.

The hosts decided to step up efforts after half-time. Anton Miranchuk made an excellent run into the box, passed the ball to Smirnov, and Sasha fired. The shot bounced off one of the defenders and went through the net. Within a couple of minutes, Anji players responded with an attacking threat of their own. Dibirgadzhiyev broke down on a counter and tried to put the ball over Lantratov who came out to meet him. Luckily for the Railroaders, the attempt went wide of the post.

Loko themselves would not be stopped. And Denis Anisimov doubled the lead with his supposedly weak left foot. Later, Smirnov must have felt really unhappy with his deflection goal, as he scored a clean goal to seal our triumph.

3:0 – a convincing win for the Lokomotiv youth team.

ROSGOSSTRAKH Russian Youth Football Championship. Gameweek 16

Lokomotiv – Anji - 3:0 (0:0)
Goals scored: Smirnov, 51 (1:0). Anisimov, 76 (2:0). Smirnov, 81 (3:0)
Lokomotiv: Lantratov, Nikitin (Shadrin, 85), Samohvalov (Gusar, 88), Dovbnya, Makarov, Makhatadze, Galanin (Anisimov, 46), Miranchuk (Rakhmonov, 70), Smirnov, Galadzhan (Rubtsov, 46), Mostovoy
Anji: Dzhenetov (Shafinskiy, 46), Belov, Elmurzaev, Dzharulaev, Kuzmin (Magomedov, 85), Gaidarov (Saidov, 87), Dzhamalutdinov, Gazimagomedov (Reshetnyak, 79), Sangadzhiyev, Musalov T. (Dibirgadzhiyev 54), Musalov M.
Bookings: Galanin, 29. Elmurzaev, 37. Gazimagomedov, 70. Reshetnyak, 90
November 20. Moscow, Lokomotiv Stadium (Perovo).