vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #593 / Sports / Reading article...

Vladivostok’s Luch-Energiya football team has managed to retain its place in Russia’s Premier League by the skin of their teeth, beating Spartak from Nalchik in a home game November 3.

After a series of defeats which had dropped the team to the bottom of the charts, jeopardizing the team’s continued membership in the league, Luch defeated Nalchik 2:1 scoring 32 ranking points.

The game, attended by about 9,800 football fans, was neck or nothing for Luch, which had to win the game in order not to plummet into the first division.

The team’s two goals came from forward Igor Strelkov, the first scored in the second minute of the match. Strelkov, who has accumulated a total of five points playing for Luch, has become the team’s best player.

Meanwhile, the team coach Sergei Pavlov said he does not intend to leave the football club, news reports said.

“I have yet to accomplish the task of club’s receiving its opportunity to play in the UEFA tournament,” the reports cited Pavlov as saying.

With Luch now taking the 13th position in the league charts, as opposed to last year’s 7th position, Pavlov still considers this year’s national championship more successful for the team.
“I am very pleased Luch has stayed in the Premier League,” he was quoted by the reports as saying.

Nalchik’s Spartak, with its 14th position in the premier league charts, will have to defeat Tomsk’s Tom in the game on November 11 to retain its place in the league.

Meanwhile, Vladivostok’s Department of Inner Affairs is currently holding an inspection into an incident involving Spartak’s player Alexander Amisulashvili, who is alleged to have raped a young woman, The Vladivostok said.

The woman, a Vladivostok resident, addressed the police on Sunday claiming she was raped by Amisulashvili after leaving a city café where a group of players, both from Spartak and Luch teams, were spending their time together with female football fans after the game.

Spartak club officials, as well as Amisulashvili himself, are denying all allegations, with the football player calling them ‘ridiculous.’

“These are absurd and provocative accusations by the press against the team’s key player,” the official statement from Spartak club said on Tuesday.

The preliminary inspection is due to be finished on Wednesday, when Vladivostok’s Prosecutor’s Office decides on starting or rejecting opening the criminal case. Amisulashvili, who has left Vladivostok for Nalchik, is currently preparing with the team for the upcoming Spartak’s match with Tom, The Vladivostok reported.