Russia round-up: Spartak struggle in opener

FC Spartak Moscow drew a blank on the opening day of the Russian Premier-Liga season on Friday.

Champions held
The champions were held to a 0-0 draw by FC Rostselmash Rostov-Na-Donu in Moscow while local FC Saturn Ramenskoye scored an impressive 3-1 win on their travels.

Penalty miss
Spartak missed the fire-power of Brazilian striker Robson who left the club during the winter, and disappointingly missed the best chance of the game after 52 minutes. The home side were awarded a penalty but Ukrainian international defender Dmytro Parfenov missed the spot-kick and Spartak were forced to settle for a draw.

Saturn success
Saturn made a superb start to the 2002 season with a 3-1 win against FC Shinnik Yaroslavl.  Alexei Meleshin opened the scoring for the visitors after 14 minutes, and Serghey Rogaciov doubled the lead three minutes after half-time. Eugeni Losev gave the home side hope when he pulled a goal back in the 67th minute, but any hopes of a comeback were dismissed fifteen minutes from time by Andrei Movsesian's goal.

Lokomotiv win
FC Lokomotiv Moscow, last season's runners-up, were 1-0 home winners over FC Alania Vladikavkaz. Jakob Lekcetho scored the only goal of the game. In today's other match Krylya Sovetov Samara and newly-promoted Uralan Elista shared the points in a 1-1 draw. Rogerio Gaucho opened the scoring for the hosts after just eleven minutes, but his effort was cancelled out by Zurab Tsiklauri's 66th-minute leveller.

Saturday fixtures
The rest of the opening fixtures are played tomorrow. FC Torpedo Moscow play host to FC Sokol Saratov, FC Anzhi Makhachkala host FC Zenit St. Petersburg, Dinamo Moscow travel to SC Rotor Volgograd and CSKA Moscow take on FC Torpedo-ZIL Moscow.