Going Further

Quite often you can hear that the Premiere League teams don't take the Russian Cup competition seriously, staffing their squads with reserve players in the first legs.

Lokomotiv brought all their stars to Novosibirsk. The Railwaymen's roster slightly differed from the one for the previous game against CSKA – only Dame Ndoye and Renat Yanbayev remained at home.

Igor Cherevchenko made some changes to the lineup: Guilherme was replaced with Ilya Abayev, defender Nemanja Pejcinovic substituted Jan Durica, Sergey Tkachyov started on the right wing instead of the usual Aleksandr Samedov, while Manuel Fernandes and Mbark Boussoufa appeared together in midfield – it was the Moroccan's first start this season. Oumar Niasse spearheaded attacks.

The Railwaymen controlled the ball throughout the first half, with possession stats being 75 to 25 % in their favour. Sibir's five defenders parked bus on their half and waited for an opportunity to counter-strike.

In the middle of the first half Niasse ran into the area but was illegally stopped by Bukhryakov. The referee immediately pointed at the spot and Boussoufa, who decided to take the kick, outfoxed the keeper scoring an opener.

Despite the total domination on the pitch, the Railwaymen couldn't convert it into something feasible allowing the first half to end 1:0.

In the half-time, Sibir manager tried to refresh his squad with a double substitution: Svezhov replaced Zhitnev, and Nagibin substituted Andrey Ivanov. This move produced an immediate effect, making Abayev do some work between the posts. However, on 61 minutes Lokomotiv doubled the lead. Vitaliy Denisov crossed from the left flank to the area where Golovatenko scored an own goal.

On 75 minutes Tkachyov was replaced with Samedov. Aleksandr soon produced a great pass to Niasse who rounded the keeper but failed to score from an acute angle. However, a minute later the Samedov-Niasse pair proved to be effective. Aleksandr crossed to the Senegalese who headed it in with no chances for the keeper.

The Siberians did not give up and soon responded with a spectacular goal. Fernandes lost the ball at the arc, Sibir's Markosov picked it up and immediately took a powerful and effective long-range shot at the goal.

Lokomotiv could have made the score big again when Abayev kicked the ball straight to Niasse. The forward dribbled two defenders and broke one-one-one with the keeper Tsygan who managed to block the strike.

Lokomotiv continued controlling the ball and secured a victory. In a 1/8 Final the Railwaymen will face Ufa who had kicked out Yenisey. The game will be held on a day between October 29 and 30, the exact date and venue will be called later.

Sibir – Lokomotiv 1:3 (0:1)

Goals: Boussoufa, 24 – pen. (0:1). Golovatenko, 61 — own goal (0:2). Niasse, 78 (0:3). Markosov, 79 (1:3).

Sibir: Tsygan, Vykhodil, Golovatenko, Bukhryakov, Margasov (Skorokhodov, 76), Andrey Ivanov (Nagibin, 46), Yedunov, Gladyshev, Astafyev, Zhitnev (Svezhov, 46), Markosov.

Lokomotiv: Abayev, Shishkin, Corluka, Pejcinovic, Denisov, Sheshukov, Fernandes, Tkachyov (Samedov, 76), Boussoufa, Maicon, Niasse.

Yellow cards: Astafyev, 24. Bukhryakov, 26. Shishkin, 52. Gladyshev, 70. Svezhov, 71.

Referee: Andrey Fisenko (Vladivostok).

September 24. Novosibirsk. Spartak Stadium.