Russian Premier League Review: Torpedo keep survival hopes alive

Torpedo Moscow claimed the win they needed to keep their hopes of Russian Premier League survival alive, overcoming Ural 3-1 in a meeting between two struggling sides.

Anything other than a win would have seen Torpedo consigned to one of the two automatic relegation places, but as it stands they still have a chance of going into a play-off to preserve their status.

After falling behind to an early goal from Pablo Fontanello, Torpedo fought back strongly and secured the required result thanks to a brace of penalties from Hugo Vieira – the first after Ural goalkeeper Nikolai Zabolotnyi had been sent off – and Dalibor Stevanovic’s effort.

The victory ended a seven-match winless run, and saw them climb off the bottom and a point above Arsenal Tula into 15th.

The latter’s 1-0 defeat of champions Zenit sees them assured of safety, although Ufa still have work to do on the final day despite their 2-1 success at Spartak Moscow.

Rostov’s ill-timed poor run of form continued as they lost 2-1 at Krasnodar – a fifth straight winless game – thanks to first-half goals from Roman Shirokov and Wanderson.

Kuban Krasnodar – who parted company with coach Leonid Kuchuk earlier on Monday – drew 1-1 with Lokomotiv Moscow in a repeat of Thursday’s Russian Cup final.

Elsewhere, Morodovia Saransk defeated Terek Grozny 1-0.