MOSCOW: Zenit St Petersburg maintained their lead in the Russian Premier League with a 1-0 win away to Dynamo Moscow on Sunday.
A goal by Russian international defender Igor Smolnikov set Saint Petersburg on their way to a hard-fought win, which left them five points clear of champions CSKA Moscow at the top.
"It's a very important win for us, one that gives us the advantage in the race for the championship over Dynamo but not yet over CSKA," Zenit manager Andre Villas-Boas said.
"It was Dynamo's almost last chance to stay in the race and as a team playing at home, striving for the title, they seriously increased the pressure on us after the break.
"We should not forget that Zenit have just returned from Turin on Friday early in the morning so there wasn't too much of a chance to recover. I have a great respect for my team. It's a fantastic win."
Zenit scored the winner goal in the 17th minute when Portuguese playmaker Miguel Danny found the unmarked Smolnikov in the area and the wing-back volleyed past Dynamo 'keeper Vladimir Gabulov from seven metres.
Dynamo head coach Stanislav Cherchesov was at the defeat.
"We wanted to play much more aggressive football but failed to do that in the first half," he said.
"We did that a lot better after the break but it was not enough to win today.
"The value of any mistake in this match was really high. We've overlooked just once and paid the price fot it."
Meanwhile, Kuban Krasnodar beat visitors Terek Grozny by the same scoreline.
After a goalless first half, midfielder Sergei Tkachev scored Kuban's winner just after the hour when he hammered the ball home from a tight angle.
In Sunday's other match, Lokomotiv Moscow missed a chance to join Rubin Kazan in fourth as they were held 0-0- away at Mordovia Saransk in a match with little in the way of chances.
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