Magnitogorsk saw off Lada 6-5 in a club friendly match on Thursday afternoon. The result gave the hosts a comfortable margin in a game that ended with plenty of goals on the board.
By then Magnitogorsk had built some momentum. They beat Dinamo Minsk 6-3 and Kunlun 3-2 in their last two outings, and had previously seen off Lada 3-2 back in February. To be fair, they looked sharp in those outings.
Lada's recent run told a different story. They lost 1-2 to Barys on Sunday but had bounced back with a comfortable 6-3 win over Salavat Yulaev two days earlier. An away defeat to Khabarovsk 5-0 sits somewhere in between. They came into this fixture knowing they needed to string some wins together.
The match itself did not come with a detailed breakdown of events, but the scoreline suggests a game that stayed close until the final whistle. Six goals to five is the kind of result where one moment changes everything.
For Magnitogorsk this adds to a positive start to their preparations. They have now won four of five recent matches, conceding sparingly in most of them. The attacking output looks encouraging.
Lada will take heart from the Salavat victory but will want to improve on their defensive showing. They have shown they can score, but keeping things tight remains a priority.