Meanwhile, Krasnodar continues to grow. Only Zenit is higher.

In the central match of the seventh round, Lokomotiv hosted Krasnodar. The guests won with the score 0:3.

Cold shower in the first half

In the first ten minutes Krasnodar had a complete advantage. There was a feeling that the Lokomotiv players did not immediately understand that the match had already started. And in the fifth minute the guests took the lead. Moscow goalkeeper Ilya Lantratov seemed to have taken possession of the ball. But due to inertia, he collided with the guest striker John Cordoba. Ilya dropped the ball, which Victor Sa did not fail to take advantage of. The Brazilian scored in the second match in a row. A week earlier, his kick had brought the Bulls to victory over Dynamo.

Lokomotiv did not immediately come to their senses. Only towards the middle of the half. Two Moscow defenders, Andrey Silyanov and Evgeny Morozov, immediately responded to Alexey Batrakov’s shot. The first did not reach the ball, but the second shot accurately. But referee Vladislav Bezborodov thought for a long time whether to count the goal or not. In the end it did not count. Morozov was offside.

This disallowed goal demoralized the home team a bit. The Ferrovieri attack, but there is no particular urgency in the goal of Stanislav Agkatsev. And the guests consolidate their success at the end of the first half. A harmless deflection of the ball led to the second goal. And again the arrival of Lantratov. Ilya handled the ball extremely poorly, giving it to Cordoba. The goalkeeper decided to correct his mistake and found nothing better than to take down the Colombian in his own penalty area. Yellow card and penalty. Eduard Spertsyan beat the goalkeeper and opened the scoring in the new season.

And the substitutions didn’t help.

During the break, Mikhail Galaktionov made three substitutions. Maxim Nenakhov, Artyom Timofeev and Nair Tiknizyan left. Vadim Rakov, Vladislav Sarveli and Sergei Pinyaev appeared on the field. For a short time the hosts improved significantly and attacked a lot. But all the efforts were reduced to an inaccurate shot by Alexei Batrakov. The counterattacks of the guests were much sharper.

In one of these counterattacks the visitors scored the third goal. Victor Sa entered the penalty area, crossed and John Cordoba beat Gerzino Nyamsi and scored his first goal in the current championship. In the 62nd minute. The game was over.

Lokomotiv, of course, attacked. But the visitors were closer to the fourth goal than the railway workers were to the first. The Krasnodar team kept the game under control. The game was moving towards its logical conclusion. But the situation almost got worse when John Cordoba said something unpleasant to the referee. Bezborodov could not tolerate such insolence and showed a yellow card to the Bulls striker. It became his second.

But, as the poet Mikhail Svetlov wrote, the detachment did not notice the loss of the soldier. Moscow captain Dmitry Barinov could have scored, but his shot was saved by Stanislav Agkatsev. Krasnodar calmly brought the match to an important victory – 3:0. Lokomotiv lost its leadership. Zenit returns to the first place with 17 points. “Krasnodar” and “Lokomotiv” have 15 each. And, although the “railwaymen” have won more victories – five against Krasnodar’s four, the “bulls” are in second place. Based on the result of a personal meeting. Spartak is in fourth place with 14 points.

Don’t look for someone to blame

“Krasnodar”, which in the first rounds was criticized not only by the lazy, and not without reason, won the fourth match only in the championship. The Bulls have no defeats. Stanislav Agkatsev conceded three goals in seven matches, and the club does not miss Matvey Safonov. It cannot be said that Murad Musaev’s team is showing outstanding football. But they regularly earn points. And when the “bulls” play, they will be capable of something great. And any trophy is great for them.

Was Lokomotiv a little stunned by the success? More likely yes than no. The railwaymen were extremely helpless in attack. For the first time this season, Dmitry Vorobyov was lost. Little happened for Alexey Batrakov. Nair Tiknizyan was invisible. The appearances of Vadim Rakov and Sergei Pinyaev, and then Timur Suleymanov, did not strengthen the game. It cannot be said that the visiting goalkeeper Stanislav Agkatsev was bored, he had work to do. But no one posed him any unsolvable problems.

But Agkatsev’s opponent Ilya Lantratov did not play the worst match in the goal of Lokomotiv. And one of the most unlucky in the Premier League. A few years ago Lantratov, being the goalkeeper of Khimki, immediately missed the net. This time there are only three, but two of them are clearly goalkeepers. The most experienced goalkeeper should not miss such goals. At the same time, Lantratov never helped. But you should not put all the blame on Ilya. The entire Lokomotiv team played poorly.

Of course, the mood of Lokomotiv fans is ruined until the next round, and then two weeks early. The team was brought back down to earth and to its native Cherkizovo. And in particularly tough form. But nothing is lost yet. The gap to Zenit is only two points. But while the market is open, it would be appropriate to strengthen the squad.