Roundup of the weekend action in Eastern Europe: POLAND
Wisla Krakow clinched their ninth league title with two games to spare after a 1-0 away win at Gornik Leczna as nearest rivals Legia Warsaw were held to a 2-2 draw at Groclin Grodzsik.
A deflected 30-metre shot from Maciej Stolarczyk gave Wisla the win and lifted them seven points above Legia, who were reduced to 10 men early in the match at Groclin after taking an 11th minute lead through Piotr Wlodarczyk.
Marek Jozwiak was sent off in the 15th minute for a professional foul and the home team's Sebasrian Mila turned the match around with two first half goals before Marek Saganowski headed home a 78th minute equaliser.
HUNGARY
Two goals from Serb striker Igor Bogdanovic and one from Peter Bajzat gave Debrecen a 3-0 win over Siofok Balaton and put them in the driving seat to win the three-way title race on the final day of the season.
Debrecen are a point ahead of Ujpest, who beat third-placed Ferencvaros Budapest 1-0 thanks to a delightful 21st minute lob from Peter Rajczi to stay in touch.
Ferencvaros are two points behind the leaders and entertain them in the final match while Ujpest are away to last season's champions MTK Budapest, who continued a dreadful run with a 4-1 defeat at Sopron.
SLOVAKIA
Dukla Banska Bystrica, who returned to top flight this season after two years in the second division, stayed on course for their first league title with a 6-0 destruction of Spartak Trnava.
Peter Penov gave Dukla a fifth minute lead and the floodgates opened after Martin Jakubko capitalised on a defensive blunder just after the hour to keep the home side in pole positioin.
Second-placed MSK Zilina stayed in touch two points adrift with a 3-0 win against Trencin. Stanislav Sestak opened the scoring and then turned provider for Michal Gottwald before Dusan Sinsky sealed the match.
RUSSIA
Second half substitute Anders Oper scored in the 71st minute to give league leaders Torpedo Moscow a 1-0 win over Rotor Volgograd and keep them three points clear at the top of the table.
Second-placed Zenit St. Petersburg beat struggling Kuban Krasnodar by the same score, courtesy of an Alexander Kerzhakov effort just before halftime.
Krylya Sovietov Samara beat Lokomotiv Moscow 1-0 while Spartak Moscow's slump continued with a 1-0 home defeat by Alania Vladikavkaz, leaving them 16 points off the pace.
UKRAINE
A Sergey Fedorov own goal gave third-place Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk a 1-0 win against champions and league leaders Dynamo Kiev, who saw their advantage at the top slashed to three points with four matches to go.
Second-placed Shakhtar Donetsk took advantage and romped to a 5-0 rout of Karpaty Lviv with two goals from Andriy Vorobyey and one each from Razvan Rac, Ciprian Marica and Zvonimir Vukic.
Rac opened the scoring with a curling free kick but it was Marica who netted the best goal of the match, a spectacular shot from the edge of the box in the 49th minute.
SLOVENIA
Maribor edged closer to their eighth successive league title wih a 0-0 draw against Olimpija Ljubljana as second-placed Nova Gorica lost 2-0 at Ajdovscina Primorje.
Maribor, a point ahead of Gorica with one match remaining, had the upper hand against their bitter rivals but escaped a costly defeat in the end as Olimpija's Bostjan Kreft rattled the crossbar in the 89th minute.
Gorica, in pole position for most of the season, were beaten by a brace from Ajdovscina's Drazen Zezelj, who converted a first half penalty and sealed the match in the 79th minute after a good pass by Goran Vicentic.
ROMANIA
Dinamo Bucharest strike partners Ionel Danciulescu and Claudiu Niculescu were on target to give the league leaders a 2-1 win at Poli AEK Timisoara and keep them four points clear of city rivals Steaua.
Niculescu gave Dinamo a 10th minute lead and the league's top scorer Danciluescu doubled it in the 67th with his 19th goal of the season before Silviu Balace pulled one back for the hosts.
An early goal from Marian Aliuta gave Steaua a 1-0 home win over Bacau to keep alive their slim hopes of snatching the title from Dinamo's grasp with two matches remaining.
BOSNIA
Champions Siroki Brijeg, who earlier secured their first league title with three games to spare, celebrated the success with a 3-3 draw against Glasinac in their final home match of the season.
The three-way battle for UEFA Cup slots continued as second-placed Zeljeznicar Sarajevo beat Rudar Ugljevik 4-1 to go three points ahead of city rivals Sarajevo, 3-1 losers at Modrica, and last season's champions Leotar Trebinje.
Source: Reuters
25.05.2004