Krasnodar secured a convincing 38:28 victory over HC Saratov in the Superliga on Thursday evening. The home side completed another flawless round of fixtures, moving further clear at the top of the table. By then the result felt inevitable — Saratov had already shown they could hang around, but not against a side firing on all cylinders.
The win takes Krasnodar to eight points from four games, with a perfect four wins from four. Saratov remain in ninth place on just one point, having drawn three times and lost once. The gap between them is widening rather than closing.
Krasnodar have been ruthless in their recent outings. They beat Dynamo Sungul 24:17, then edged past Stavropol 32:29, before seeing off Zilant 30:29 and UOR No.2 Moscow 34:30. Things came to a head on Thursday with another comfortable margin, and the home crowd saw exactly what they expected.
Saratov's record tells a different story entirely. They held Zenit to a 24:24 draw last time out, but before that they lost 34:36 to Perm Bears, 27:34 to Chekhov Medvedis, and 29:30 to Kavkaz. They have not found a way to turn draws into points, and one mistake ends it when you are playing with so little margin for error.
The result keeps Krasnodar firmly in the hunt for the title and leaves Saratov with work to do. Three draws have kept them in the mix, but they need a win to climb out of the bottom half. The home side now hold the tie in their own hands — or rather, the league in their own hands — and they have every right to believe they can finish on top.
