MOSCOW: Reigning champions Zenit St Petersburg kept alive their chances of retaining the Russian title on Sunday by beating Rubin Kazan 4-2.
Skipper Miguel Danny netted a brace, while Artem Dzyuba and Hulk added a goal apiece to lift Saint Petersburg into fourth, level on points with FC Krasnodar, who beat Mordovia Saransk 1-0.
Ukrainian international Marko Devic and Igor Portnyagin were on target for Rubin.
"It was a good game and we played very well," Zenit manager Andre Villas-Boas said. "We created around 20 scoring chances tonight and won deservedly.
"This win is very important for us because with a six-point difference we have fair chances to retain the title as we will play Rostov and take on CSKA at home."
Zenit got off to a flying start through Danny, who sent the ball into the net from close range in the fifth minute after a defensive blunder, while Dzyuba added his goal just before the break.
Hulk made it 3-0 three minutes after half-time before Devic reduced the arrears in the 64th minute.
Danny netted his second just a minute later, while Portnyagin rounded off the scoring with 22 minutes to go.
Elsewhere, two-time former champions Lokomotiv Moscow beat Ufa 2-0 to regain third spot.
Midfielder Vladislav Ignatyev put the Muscovites 1-0 up in the 56th minute with a spotkick after Alexander Samesov was brought down in their area.
Samedov added his goal in injury time to secure a well-deserved win.
"Ufa played defensively as we expected," Lokomotiv head coach Igor Cherevchenko said.
"I asked my men to exchange positions to complicate the job for Ufa's defenders and it worked well tonight."
Earlier on Sunday, FC Krasnodar, last season's third place finishers, were reduced to 10 men in the 11th minute when Iceland defender Ragnar Sigurdsson was sent off for a professional foul.
But Krasnodar scored the winner in the 23rd minute when midfielder Pavel Mamayev found the unmarked Fedor Smolov in the area to slot home a low shot.
"It's a very hard victory and very important three points for us," Krasnodar head coach Oleg Kononov said.
"I'm proud of my men. They performed a heroic effort today."
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