St. Petersburg started to feel the Russian cold and an early Mac goal heated things up for Zenit, who looked ready for another thrashing with Orenburg the potential victim.
Many players were out for Lucescu due to cards / injuries (Criscito, Shatov, Neto, Smolnikov, Zhirkov) but Zenit still found the way to open the score after a perfectly orchestrated counter-attack which found Robert Mac netting in the first of the night after 17 minutes.
Zenit’s heavy schedule the last weeks -which gets heavier with many games in a short time frame- was affecting the team’s freshness, as Orenburg’s defence was keeping any danger at bay.
Besides defending, Kerzhakov didn’t face real threats from the newly-promoted team and the three vital points were won in the end, at a competitive Russian league, that find Spartak Moscow and Zenit tied in first place.
