The match between Dynamo and SKA-Khabarovsk was moved to St. Petersburg at the Kirovets stadium due to problems with the army team’s home arena. It took place in difficult weather conditions - wet snow and strong winds.
Muscovites head coach Marcel Licka gave rest to many leaders, but strong reservists got their chance. Already in the 12th minute, one of them, Vyacheslav Grulev, opened the scoring by converting a one-on-one with Islam Imamov.
Subsequently, the guests took the initiative, but the opponent, representing the First League, also created chances near Anton Shunin’s goal. In one of the episodes, the ball hit the post after an unsuccessful clearance by Dmitry Skopintsev. The goalkeeper helped out his teammates several times. But in the middle of the second half, Albek Gongapshev closed in a cross from the right flank and restored the balance.
However, soon Fabian Balbuena, taking advantage of a lob from a corner, put the finishing touches with a close-range shot and brought the blue and whites into the next round.
At the Khimki Arena, Rostov faced off against another team playing in the First League, Khimki. After the defeat of Dynamo in the RPL, the mentor of the southerners Valery Karpin carried out a serious roster rotation, which affected the course of the match.
During normal time, the opponents demonstrated an equal game. Dangerous moments arose both at one and the other goal. But no one managed to upset Nikita Medvedev and Igor Obukhov, and the latter made seven saves.
The fate of the confrontation was determined in a penalty shootout, which stretched over 16 attempts. At the same time, in front of her, Karpin, along with assistant Viktor Onopko, received red cards for arguing with the judge.
Roman Yuzepchuk hit the post with his second shot, but Obukhov later parried Maxim Osipenko's shot. In the end, Medvedev’s rescue after Oleg Isaenko’s hit turned out to be fateful: the goalkeeper turned the ball into the post with his palm.
Thus, for the fifth time this season of the Russian Cup, teams scored 13 or more penalty kicks in the “lottery”. At the same time, only Ufa and Torpedo scored more goals from Khimki and Rostov in the fourth round meeting - 15. And the Moscow region team finished the performance without conceding even once in five matches.
In other meetings of the second round of the 1/4 finals of the Path of the Regions tournament, Ural in Yekaterinburg will face off against Lokomotiv, and Akhmat in Grozny will host Orenburg.
Earlier, Lichka admitted that Dynamo had a hard time in the game with SKA-Khabarovsk.