Dynamo St Petersburg saw off Toros Neftekamsk 6:3 in a club friendly on Thursday. The hosts put together a performance that went beyond what their recent record suggested, while Toros, who had been building momentum, found themselves on the wrong side of a one-sided affair.
Dynamo came into the game having lost four of their last five matches, including a 1:11 drubbing by HK Yugra. Toros, by contrast, had won three consecutive fixtures — 3:1 against CSK VVS, 2:1 versus Almetyevsk, and 6:1 over Bars. The contrast in form made the result all the more striking.
There were no statistics available for the match, no breakdown of possession or shots. What you could see was a team that had been struggling suddenly found its rhythm. Toros, who had looked sharp in their recent wins, were second to everything after the opening exchanges. The scoreline told the story.
It was a friendly, so nothing hangs in the balance here. But Dynamo will take confidence from a result that puts them in a different light to the one they have been in of late. Toros will need to regroup — three wins in a row do not prepare you for a performance like this.