Gloria Bistriţa upsets Răzvan Lucescu's Braşov

Gloria Bistriţa leap out of the relegation zone with a shocking 1-0 defeat of Răzvan Lucescu's FC Braşov.

The Vampirii Albaştri scored the matches lone goal with seven minutes remaining after a controversial penalty call. Noted veteran Cristi Coroian stepped up and drove the ball in for the 1-0 victory.

The loss leaves Braşov in eighth position a full six points off Cluj who hold the final Europa League spot. Braşov returns to play on Friday against Farul Constanţa whilst Gloria Bistriţa faces Argeş Piteşti two days later.

Timişoara defeats Gloria Bistriţa 1-0

With a short-week following Wednesday's victory over Iaşi, Gabi Balint's Timişoara squeezed out a narrow 1-0 victory over Gloria Bistriţa.

Led by noted Ioan Sabău, the Vampirii Albaştri showed a very impressive form and looked to heading to a scoreless draw before a late goal. In a very controversial call Mădălin Ciucă was shown his second yellow card with fifteen minutes left, forcing Bistriţa to play a man down for the balance of the match. Finally a minute into added time the deadlock was broken as Alexandru Curtean accepted Iasmin Latovlevici's pass and fired a shocking drive to the top left corner from twenty five metres past 'keeper Ciprian Tătăruşanu.

Timişoara returns to action next Saturday as they welcome Farul Constanţa whilst Gloria Bistriţa visits Unirea Urziceni.

Arman Karamyan leads FC Timişoara to victory

Gabi Balint's FC Timişoara continued their push with a 3-0 victory over Politehnica Iaşi. Led by the brilliant work the Armenian international Arman Karamyan (Արման Քարամյան), Timişoara took the led at the eleventh minute as he accepted a long diagonal cross on the right and deftly out-maneuvered Iaşi defender Andrej Pečnik before sending the ball to the opposite corner past Iaşi keeper Răzvan Pleşca. Karamyan created a perfect opportunity for the second goal at the thirtieth minute as he crossed to Balázs Borbély in the box but the Slovak capped midfielders volley was easily dealt with by the Iaşi keeper. Timişoara extended its lead eight minutes into the new half via a one-man effort by Gheorghe Bucur who ran under a long ball down the left flank before turning back in front of the goal to score from eight metres. The day was not done as with six minutes left Iaşi keeper Răzvan Pleşca could only partially stop Lukáš Magera's shot from inside the box with the rebound coming to Karamyan's Armenian teammate Artiom Karamyan (Արտավազդ Քարամյան), who turned the ball in from four metres out.

Both clubs return to action on Saturday as Politehnica Iaşi welcomes Unirea Urziceni and FC Timişoara continues their race to catch Dinamo against Gloria Bistriţa.

Dinamo Bucureşti devastates Gloria Bistriţa 5-0

After a shock loss to Politehnica Iaşi this past weekend, Dinamo Bucureşti responded with a 5-0 devouring of Gloria Bistriţa. Marius Niculae opened the scoring at the twentieth minute in his first of three goals as he headed in Zé Kalanga's cross from twelve metres out. Surging down the left flank, Gabriel Boştină set-up the Romanian international with a perfect cross that Niculae headed in from ten metres four minutes before the hour. Niculae's third of the day came with eighteen minutes left on the clock as he headed in Gabriel Boştină pinpoint cross. With six minutes remaining Ionel Dănciulescu long cross was volleyed back to a near stop by Ianis Zicu straight onto the path of Osvaldo Miranda to pound into the back of the net from eleven metres. Ianis Zicu was provider in the second minute of added-time as he provided Ionel Dănciulescu the ball at the edge of the area before the veteran surged in and struck the ball to the far left corner from ten metres.

Both sides return to action on Friday as Dinamo Bucureşti welcomes Farul Constanţa with Gloria Bistriţa travels to FC Timişoara.