Ten-man Moscow hold on in bore draw

27 October, 2008, 12:03

On Sunday FC Moscow and Saturn from the Moscow region played out a bore draw in Moscow, with neither team managing to find the back of the net. The visitors played for over an hour with a one-man advantage, but the men from the capital easily held on to share the points.

FC Moscow 0 Saturn 0

With both sides clear of the relegation zone, and not in the race for a European spot, there was little for FC Moscow and Saturn to play for – so they didn’t!

One of the very few dramatic incidents took place in the 27th minute.

Andrey Karyaka was clean through, but the Saturn midfielder was brought down by FC Moscow’s Isaac Okoronkwo. The Nigerian defender was sent off for a professional foul. There was some doubt whether the incident took place inside the penalty area, but the referee awarded the spot-kick.

Up stepped Marco Topic, but the Croat striker saw his poor penalty saved by easily by Amelchenko.

Saturn tried to make their numerical advantage count, but they were unable to find a way past Amelchenko.

The second half saw Saturn continue to attack, but Oleg Blokhin's side were rarely troubled, as Saturn's attack failed to create any threatening opportunities.

“It's always difficult to play for over an hour with only ten men. I think it would be unfair to say that Saturn dominated this game, and I think at times we looked like the better side. I was really pleased by the character my players showed after being down to 10 men, and we were certainly deserving of a point,” said Oleg Blokhin, head coach of FC Moscow.

It was not a good afternoon for Saturn head coach, Jurgen Rober, who saw his side fail to create any real goalscoring opportunities. Despite having a man advantage Saturn were poor going forward. All in all, it was a disappointing game, which pretty much sums up both clubs’ seasons this year.