MOSCOW (AFP) - Saint Petersburg side Zenit are within one match of winning their first ever Russian title after a hard-fought 1-0 home win over FC Moscow on Saturday.

With only one match remaining in the season Zenit are on 58 points, two points ahead of Spartak Moscow, who beat Rostov 3-0. Third-placed CSKA Moscow are not in contention on 50 points.

Spurred on by a capacity 21-thousand home crowd Saint Petersburg, who won the Soviet league in 1984, pushed hard from the start seeking an early goal.

Russian international striker Andrei Arshavin put Saint Petersburg 1-0 up in the 19th minute shooting home from seven-metres from Turkish teammate Fatih Tekke's short cross.

Russia's nine-time champions Spartak Moscow easily and predictably took three points thrashing already relegated Rostov.

Spartak dominated the play in general but managed to open the score only in the 40th minute, when their Ukrainian midfielder Maxim Kalinichenko fired into the top left-hand corner with a 20-metre freekick.

Brazilian striker Soares Welliton and midfielder Denis Boyarintsev added one apiece after the halftime break to keep Spartak in the race for the domestic title.









St Petersburg

29

17

7

5

52

33

58





Spartak Moscow

29

16

8

5

48

29

56





CSKA Moscow

29

13

11

5

42

24

50





FC Moscow

29

14

7

8

38

30

49





Ramenskoye

29

11

12

6

34

27

45





Dynamo Moscow

29

11

8

10

36

33

41





Lokomotiv Moscow

29

11

8

10

37

39

41





Perm

29

10

11

8

30

25

41





Kazan

29

10

5

14

31

38

35





Tomsk

29

8

11

10

37

34

35





Khimki

29

8

10

11

28

32

34





Samara

29

8

8

13

34

42

32





Vladivostok

29

8

8

13

25

36

32