Summary Champions CSKA Moscow are third a further two points behind Krasnodar.
MOSCOW (AFP) - FC Krasnodar narrowed the gap to Russian Premier League leaders Zenit St Petersburg with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Terek Gronzy on Sunday.
Brazilian forward Wanderson s winning goal closed the gap to the leaders to five points after Zenit suffered a 1-0 defeat at Mordovia Saransk on Saturday.
Wanderson put the visitors into the lead in the 18th minute after beating the offside trap to slot home Marat Izmailov s pinpoint pass from the edge of the area.
to the edge of the area and slotted the ball home past helpless keeper Yaroslav Godzyur.
After the interval the hosts pinned Krasnodar back and in the 50th minute Terek striker Igor Lebedenko had a chance to level but his shot from the edge of the six-yard box hit the woodwork and bounced back into play.
Krasnodar replied positively and in the 56th minute Wanderson again had the ball in the net, only for his strike to be ruled out for offside.
Lebedenko missed the hosts last chance to save the day in the third minute of stoppage time when his shot from eight yards out struck the crossbar.
"Today we opposed a very strong and organised team," Krasnodar manager Oleg Kononov said.
"Luckily we scored an early opener and kept the play under control before the break.
"In the second half we lacked freshness after Thursday s Europa League match against Lille. But we managed to resist the hosts attacks and keep our lead."
Meanwhile, Lokomotiv beat Spartak 1-0 in a Moscow derby.
After a goalless first half hosts Lokomotiv moved up a gear in the second and midfielder Alan Kasaev scored the winning goal in the 77th minute to lift the railway-backed club up to fifth.
"It was hard to play on an uneven pitch in such frosty weather," Lokomotiv manager Miodrag Bozovic complained.
"But we managed to add power to our attacks after the break and scored the goal. I m pleased with the lads performance, they gave everything they had for the win."
In Sunday s other match Dynamo Moscow held Rubin Kazan to a 1-1 draw.
Forward Igor Portnyagin lifted Rubin 1-0 up in the 23rd minute with the help of a deflection.
But Hungarian midfielder Balazs Dzsudzsak came off the bench after the interval to score an equaliser in the 78th minute.
