August, 2006
Saturday 5th
Russian Premier Division
Rotor 1 (Zubko 43)
Sokol Saratov 3 (Sychev 7, Gyan 35, Oreschuk 78)
Zlydnev puts in another wonderful display as
Sokol go back up to 5th.
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Saturday 12th
Russian Premier Division
Sokol Saratov 2 (Volkov og 54, Slahor 83)
Kuban 0
A mesmerising display of creative midfield play from
Zlydnev, who surely can’t stay in Russia for too much longer. Struggling at half time,
Razhazan switches the midfield around and brings
Jan Slahor off the bench to conclusive effect.
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Wednesday 16th
Russian Premier Division
Alania 2 (Barasa 1, Monaryov 33)
Sokol Saratov 5 (Volkov 16, 48, 83, Oreschuk 50, Sychev 88)
A brilliant comeback to beat battling
Alania will be remembered for the first hat-trick of
Sergey Volkov’s career on the day he handed in a formal transfer request. With 18 games gone out of 30,
Sokol lie in third place, although runaway leaders
CSKA Moscow have a 12 point advantage over the Blues.
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Sunday 20th
Russian Premier League Cup
Semi Final 1st Leg
Sokol Saratov 2 (Mnguni 7, Oreschuk pen 72)
Spartak Moscow 1 (Pavlyuchenko 93)
Sokol played exceptionally well against
Spartak but may regret the number of chances they missed come the return leg, and that last minute Pavlyuchenko goal may also prove costly for the Blues. The attendance of 13,103 has been confirmed as a
Saratov record.
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Saturday 26th
Russian Premier Division
Sokol Saratov 4 (Sychev 12, 18, 93, Zlydnev 16)
Saturn 0
Sokol boss
Mikhail Razhazan commented to the press at the end of the game that it was such a comfortable afternoon for his side that even
Alexey Zlydnev scored. Whilst it is true that the flamboyant midfielder is rarely seen on the score sheet, it is also a fact that he is unlikely to be playing his football in his native country next season. With
Parma,
Porto and
Liverpool keeping a keen eye on
Zlydnev it seems inconceivable that
Razhazan will be able to keep hold of his most prized asset. He was denied the Man of the Match award on this occasion though, outdone by the imperious
Dmitry Sychev, whose first hat-trick in a
Saratov shirt brought his new club to within four points of second place and opened a similar gap behind them
Meanwhile, at the other end of the
Russian Premier Division,
Terek recorded their first win of the campaign at the twentieth attempt, beating
Rotor 2-0 to take their season’s tally to five points, a full twelve from safety with only a third of the term remaining.
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Wednesday 30th
Russian Premier Division
Sokol Saratov 2 (Zlydnev pen 21, Mnguni 28)
Zenith Petersburg 2 (Popov 6, Arshavin 28)
The last game of a hot and sticky August on the Volga was the visit from the second city of
Zenith, sitting 2nd in the league and arriving following a 2-0 defeat of leaders
CSKA. In an enthralling encounter that either side could have snatched, accuracy appeared to desert the stadium after a first half an hour in which all the goals were scored.
Sokol had slightly the better of the play and will feel themselves very much aggrieved that a
Tony Coyle header was ruled out for offside in the dying minutes despite
Coyle himself remaining onside throughout.