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Rubin go top, Zenit face penalty for playing too many foreigners

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MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti) - An eventful weekend in the Russian Premier League saw last year's champions Rubin beat Dynamo Moscow 3-0 to go top, while Zenit St. Petersburg look set to be punished for fielding too many foreigners.

Rubin opened the scoring in Kazan in the ninth minute, Roman Sharonov poking the ball home after a mistake by Vladimir Gabulov in the Dynamo goal. The Moscow club were unlucky to have a penalty decision go against them 11 minutes later, former Zenit St. Petersburg star Alejandro Dominguez making no mistake from the spot.

Dynamo, playing without the injured Alexander Kerzhakov, looked weak going forward, and midfielder Kirill Kombarov put through his own net in the 77th minute to ensure that the rest of the game would be mere formality.

"I'm satisfied with my players' commitment," Rubin manager Kurban Berdiyev, Turkmenistan's most famous footballing export, told the sports.ru website. "It only remains to hope for better as far as taking chances goes."

Zenit St. Petersburg were left frustrated in more ways than one in Moscow against Lokomotiv, Andrei Arshavin's former teammates throwing away a 1-0 lead with 20 minutes left, the game ending 1-1.

However, the match looks likely to go down as a 3-0 win to Lokomotiv after Zenit boss Dick Advocaat inadvertently fielded seven foreigners, when Turk Fatah Tekke came on for Pavel Pogrebnyak as substitute with nine minutes to play. Under Russian Premier League regulations, only six foreigners can be on the field at any one time. Advocaat has already taken responsibility for the error.

Spartak Moscow faced Terek Grozny in the Russian capital after a week that had seen their Danish trainer Michael Laudrup dismissed following a 3-0 home loss to Dynamo in the quarterfinals of the Russian Cup. However, second half goals from Vladimir Bystrov and Wellinton gave the Red and Whites all three points and caretaker manager Valery Karpin his first win.

"I had the impression that Spartak were recognizable for the first time this year," the 40-year-old trainer told Sport Express. "Even when we exchanged tops with our opponents you could still tell which team was ours."

After a slow start to the season, CSKA followed on from last week's 4-1 victory over Lokomotiv Moscow to beat struggling Moscow Region side Khimki 3-0 away. All three goals were scored by Serbian midfielder Milos Krasic, his second goal tucked in from a tight angle.

"Khimki are my favorite team," Krasic joked in an interview with sports.ru. "That's five goals I've scored against them in five games."

In other matches, Urals side Amkar scored their first goal of the season to beat Kuban 1-0 at home. The team have now scored one and conceded one in five league matches.

Results - April 18-19

Amkar 1-0 Kuban

Saturn 0-1 FC Moskva

Lokomotiv Moscow 1-1 Zenit St Petersburg

Khimki 0-3 CSKA Moscow

Rubin 3-0 Dynamo Moscow

Rostov 0-0 Krilya Sovetov

Spartak Moscow 2-0 Terek Grozny

Tom Tomsk 1-0 Spartak Nalchik

Table (five games)

Rubin - 11

CSKA Moscow - 10

Krilya Sovetov - 10

Dynamo - 9

Zenit St Petersburg - 9

FC Moskva - 8

Spartak Moscow - 7

Terek Grozny - 7

Tom Tomsk - 7

Rostov - 6

Amkar - 6

Lokomotiv - 6

Saturn - 4

Kuban - 4

Spartak Nalchik - 2

Khimki - 1

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