Fuente : UEFA (English)
http://www.uefa.com/

UEFA Cup: Zenit edge past Pasching

/noticias.info/ FC Zenit St.Petersburg narrowly progressed to the first round of the UEFA Cup on the away goals rule after a 1-1 draw at home against SV Pasching.

Familiar result
By coincidence, it the the second successive season that Zenit have eliminated Pasching from the UEFA Cup in this manner - the teams met in last season's competition, with Zenit losing 3-1 at Pasching, but winning 2-0 at home. The first leg in Austria this season ended in a 2-2 draw, meaning Vlastimil Petrzela's team go through.

Zenit superiority
The draw resulted from goals by Olexandr Spivak for Zenit and Radoslaw Gilewicz for Pasching, but the hosts dominated proceedings almost throughout and missed many scoring opportunities. Zenit earned a total of eleven corners, while Pasching had only one - and that came in the 90th minute.

Clinical Spivak
Zenit pushed forward from the first whistle, and on 12 minutes Carlos Chaile fouled Aleksandr Kerzhakov in the area. The referee pointed to the spot after he was brought down, and Spivak despatched the kick precisely into the low left corner.

Profiligate Anyukov
The chances in front of Josef Schicklgruber's goal came one after another with Kerzhakov, Andrei Arshavin and Erik Hagen all having chances to increase the lead. Twice in the first half, on 23 and 45 minutes, Russian international defender Aleksandr Anyukov went one-on-one with the Pasching goalkeeper, but he missed both opportunities.

Limited threat
The guests began to get going towards the end of the first half, when they shot at goal four times from distance - the most dangerous effort coming from Thomas Pichlmann. But still the visitors never looked likely to cause Zenit serious problems.

Offensive draw
The game continued in the same vein after the break, although Zenit failed to achieve the same attacking penetration as before. Still, Kerzhakov and substitute Robertas Poškus had chances to score a second goal for the hosts. On 55 minutes Gilewicz broke through in a rare Pasching raid, but Zenit's goalkeeper Kamil Contofalský courageously left his goalline and saved his team.

Late scare
Two minutes before the final whistle the Austrian side managed to create the first real scoring opportunity and Gilewicz headed the ball into the near corner after Yüksel Sariyar's pass. The last few minutes in added time were very nervous, but Zenit managed to hold on and enter Friday's draw. notas_de_prensa_archivo