Eastern European roundup [Tue Sep 13th, 2005]
Belgrade (Reuters) - Roundup of weekend football in eastern Europe:
CROATIA
Dinamo Zagreb stayed in pole position with a 0-0 home draw against champions and traditional rivals Hajduk Split in a match marred by several interruptions after rival fans threw dozens of flares onto the pitch.
Dinamo dominated but Hajduk's defence held firm. The draw left Dinamo a point ahead of surprise package Varteks Varazdin, who closed in on the leaders with a 2-1 win at struggling Inter Zapresic.
SERBIA & MONTENEGRO
Leaders OFK Belgrade kept their perfect record intact with a 3-0 win against Smederevo while champions Partizan Belgrade stayed in second position three points behind after a 2-0 success at city rivals Zemun.
Striker Stevan Stosic sent OFK on their way with an acrobatic overhead kick in the 10th minute, before Branko Bakovic doubled the lead with a fine solo effort and Dusko Tosic completed the scoring on the hour.
Partizan took the lead through a Simon Vukcevic penalty in the 25th minute and Srdjan Radonjic added a second in the closing stages.
Red Star Belgrade rediscovered their scoring touch with a 5-1 drubbing of Banatski Dvor, Dragan Mladenovic scoring in his first match for the club since his return from Rangers.
SLOVAKIA
Leaders Spartak Trnava strolled to a 3-1 win at bottom team Matador Puchov to remain six points ahead of Zilina, who trounced Inter Bratislava 5-2.
Vladimir Kozuch scored with a header and a neat close-range finish either side of a Miroslav Kriss effort to give Trnava a 3-0 lead, before Peter Majernik drilled in a scorcher from 18 metres for the home side.
Two goals by Pavol Straka and one apiece by Robert Jez, Dare Vrsic and Miroslav Barcik lifted former three-time champions Zilina to a comfortable win.
Champions Artmedia Bratislava warmed up for their Champions League debut against Inter Milan with a 3-0 home win over Trencin.
POLAND
Two well-taken goals from Marek Ziencuk either side of the interval gave champions Wisla Krakow a 2-1 home win over Pogon Szczecin and kept them joint top with Lech Poznan, who beat Amica Wronki 4-1.
Zinecuk unleashed a scorcher from the edge of the box in the 12th minute and crashed home a 71st minute piledriver to cancel out an Edi Andradina header for the visitors.
Krzysztof Gajtkowski netted a brace while Blazej Telichowski and Damian Nawrocik scored a goal each to fire Lech to an emphatic win at Amica.
ROMANIA
Champions Steaua Bucharest laboured to a 2-1 win at bottom team Pandurii Tigru Jiu to stay top a point ahead of city rivals Dinamo, who demolished mid-table Bacau 6-0.
Banel Nicolita gave Steaua a 15th minute lead and Gabriel Boctina curled in an 80th minute free kick to cancel out a 49th minute equaliser from Emilian Stefan.
Claudiu Niculescu and Ianis Zicu scored two goals apiece while Cosmin Moti and Vlad Munteanu added one each to steer Dinamo to their biggest win of the season.
Rapid Bucharest, the 2004 champions, continued their patchy start with a 3-3 draw at lowly Otelul Galati after squandering a 3-0 first-half lead.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Two goals from striker Lukas Zelenka gave champions Sparta Prague a 2-0 home win against Jihlava to keep them in a chasing pack of three teams two points behind leaders Slovan Liberec, who play Slovacko on Monday.
Teplice beat Mlada Boleslav 2-0 with two goals from Pavel Verbir and Pribram cruised past Sigma Olomouc 3-0 to stay level on points with Sparta.
BULGARIA
Champions CSKA Sofia held bitter city rivals and league leaders Levski to a 1-1 draw in a violent top of the table derby that left three police officers injured in clashes with fans during and after the match.
Velizar Dimitrov turned in a Yordan Todorov cross in the 31st minute to give CSKA the lead before international midfielder Dimitar Telkiiski struck to salvage a point for Levski and keep them a point ahead of the champions.
RUSSIA
Champions and front-runners Lokomotiv Moscow were idle over the weekend and city rivals CSKA took advantage to cut the deficit to seven points in Russia's March-November championship with a 2-0 win against Shinnik Yaroslavl.
International midfielder Rolan Gusev fired CSKA ahead in the first minute when he rifled home a fierce shot from the edge of the penalty area and Brazilian Searanse Dudu sealed the match in injury time with a brilliant solo effort.
UKRAINE
Champions and league leaders Shakhtar Donetsk lost their perfect record with a 0-0 draw at Arsenal Kiev, allowing traditional rivals Dynamo Kiev to halve the gap to two points after a 1-0 win at Chernomorets Odessa.
Brazilian midfielder Diogo Rincon grabbed a 43rd minute winner for Dynamo.
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