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Eastern European roundup [Tue Sep 20th, 2005]
Belgrade (Reuters) - Roundup of weekend football in Eastern Europe:
SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
Teenage midfielder Nebojsa Marinkovic rifled in two late goals from long range to help champions Partizan Belgrade to a 3-0 win at Vojvodina Novi Sad and lift them into pole position on goal difference.
Marinkovic, who came on as an 83rd-minute substitute, crowned a dream debut for Partizan after defender Branimir Bajic had opened the scoring with a crisp 26th minute shot from the edge of the penalty box.
OFK Belgrade lost their perfect record and slipped to second after a 1-0 defeat at Habitfarm Ivanjica.
Red Star Belgrade cruised to a 4-2 win at city rivals Rad to recover from a slow start and break into the top four, five points behind the leaders with a game in hand.
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CROATIA
Dinamo Zagreb drubbed city rivals NK Zagreb 4-0 to stay top two points ahead of Rijeka, who beat champions Hajduk Split 1-0 away after a heroic performance from their Serbian goalkeeper Dragan Zilic.
Hajduk manager Miroslav Blazevic resigned to make way for Ivan Gudelj after the defeat left them languishing in sixth place and director Igor Stimac also stepped down, following one of the team's worst starts to the league in years.
Defender Marijan Buljat sent Dinamo on their way with a superb 35th-minute free kick, before Luka Modric, Oleilton Etto and Edurado da Silva scored in the second half to complete the rout.
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HUNGARY
Leaders MTK Budapest won 3-0 at lowly Sopron thanks to a brace from 18-year old Adam Hrepka on his debut and a third from Peter Czvitkovics to stay a point ahead of Videoton, who beat Papa Lombard 2-1.
Third-placed Ujpest, three points off the pace, can go joint top when they meet champions Debrecen later.
Former champions Ferencvaros are still winless and have only two points from five matches after a 1-1 home draw with Kaposvar left them second from bottom.
Tamas Priskin scored a hat-trick for Gyor ETO, including an injury-time equaliser to salvage a 3-3 draw at Tatabanya.
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ROMANIA
Champions Steaua Bucharest stayed top a point ahead of bitter city rivals Dinamo after their 2-2 draw but missed a good chance to pull clear at the summit after letting slip an early 2-0 lead.
Dorin Goian and Nicolae Dica fired Steaua ahead with goals in the opening 16 minutes before Iannis Zicu pulled one back shortly before the interval and Alexander Baltoi headed home an 87th minute equaliser.
Farul Constanta stayed third level on points with Dinamo after coming from behind to beat Vaslui 2-1 at home with goals from Cosmin Pascovici and Tibor Moldovan cancelling out a Claudiu Raducanu penalty.
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BULGARIA
Champions CSKA Sofia beat Naftex Burgas 3-0 to leap into pole position over city rivals Levski, who were held to a 4-4 draw at nine-man Beroe Stara Zagora after relinquishing a two-goal lead in the second half.
Stoyko Sakaliev headed CSKA in front after seven minutes and doubled the lead on the hour before Iordan Todorov added the third late in the game.
Isak Kuoki grabbed a hat-trick for Beroe to lead their fine comeback against Levski before getting sent off for dissent in the 48th minute. The home team also had Ludmil Kirov dismissed on the hour, but earned a draw after Daniel Mitev scored a 75th minute penalty.
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RUSSIA
Champions Lokomotiv Moscow had their lead slashed to five points after a 1-1 draw at struggling Rostelmas, while closest rivals CSKA Moscow won 1-0 at Saturn REN Ramenskoe.
Dmitry Sennikov drilled home an 83rd-minute equaliser for Lokomotiv after the home side took a 25th-minute lead through Igor Osinov. CSKA won with an early goal from Brazilian striker Alexandro Dudu.
Zenit St. Petersburg stayed third, level on points with CSKA, after two goals from Igor Denisov and one apiece by international strikers Andrey Arshavin and Alexander Kerzhakov gave them a 4-0 win at mid-table Torpedo Moscow.
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UKRAINE
Champions Shakhtar Donetsk stayed top two points ahead of traditional rivals Dynamo Kiev after both were held to surprise home draws by modest opposition.
Shakhtar conceded a last minute goal to draw 1-1 with promoted Stal Alchevsk and Dynamo also let in a late equaliser to settle for a 2-2 draw with Metalist Kharkiv.
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