FC Costuleni trained by Lilian Popescu managed to cause a new surprise in the last stage of this year. On December 8, it beat Zimbru 1-0 and went on vacation on the fourth place, being two points away from the podium, IPN reports.

Halfback Vlad Ivanov brought the victory after scoring in the 9th minute. This season, Costuleni also defeated such highly-rated teams as FC Tiraspol, Milsami and Dacia. “I do not want to speak about the qualification for Europa League. We will play for victory in every match and in 2014 will see what place we take at the end of the championship,” Lilian Popescu told a news conference after the match.

Zimbru now ranks seventh. After the game, coach Oleg Kubarev denied the reports that he signed a contract with Dinamo Minsk. “All my plans are connected with Zimbru. I hope the team will play better in the second half of the championship. A coach cannot say what will be tomorrow,” he stated.

In Orhei, Milsami suffered the first defeat since it was taken over by Russian coach Gheorghi Yartsev. The ‘eagles’ were beaten 0-2 by the leader Sheriff, for which Bulgarian player Ismail Isa scored two goals in the first 15 minutes. Sheriff is 11 points ahead of FC Tiraspol and 13 points ahead of Veris.

The other matches of the 19th stage ended as follows: FC Tiraspol - Veris 0-0, Dinamo-Auto - Rapid 2-1, Speranta - Olimpia 0-2, Academia - Dacia 1-2. The next round will take place on February 28, 2014.