MOSCOW, March 16 (Reuters) - Zenit St Petersburg began the defence of their Russian premier league title with a tepid 0-0 home draw against last year's runners-up Spartak Moscow on Sunday.
Chances were few and far in between for Zenit and Spartak in
their first match of league season at St Petersburg's Petrovsky
stadium with both sides looking sluggish and short of ideas.
Russia striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, who scored both Zenit goals
in their 2-0 win over Olympique Marseille in the UEFA Cup four
days ago, had the best chance but missed with a close-range
header midway through the second half.
In the Siberian city of Tomsk, local side Tom and Dynamo
Moscow braved freezing temperatures that dipped below minus 15
degrees Celsius by kickoff. The scrappy match also ended 0-0.
On Saturday, 2005 and 2006 champions CSKA Moscow, who
finished third last year, were held to a 1-1 draw at home by
promoted Shinnik Yaroslavl.
CSKA's Brazilian striker Jo opened the scoring in the 63rd
minute but Latvian midfielder Juris Laizans equalised three
minutes later.
Two unfancied sides, Krylya Sovietov Samara and Amkar Perm,
surprisingly lead the standings after the opening round of
matches by posting identical 3-0 victories.
Samara crushed promoted Terek Grozny in the season's opener
on Friday, played in the Chechen capital that a few years ago
was a war zone, and Amkar hammered FK Khimki the following day.
