Florin Costea leads Universitatea Craiova to victory over CS Otopeni

Universitatea Craiova maintain their spot in the Europa League with a tight 1-0 victory over CS Otopeni.

With the match deadlocked Florin Costea found the winning touch with twelve minutes remaining as he redirected Florin Costin Şoava's effort from the left into the net from the edge of the six yard box.

Universitatea Craiova returns to action against Gloria Buzău on Saturday whilst CS Otopeni welcomes Dan Petrescu's Unirea Urziceni.

Dan Petrescu's Unirea Urziceni defeats Farul Constanţa 1-0

Dan Petrescu's Unirea Urziceni stayed within two points of Dinamo Bucureşti with a 1-0 victory over Farul Constanţa.

Two minutes before the break Iulian Apostol got revenge on his old club with the matches long goal. After sending in a corner from that left that was cleared back to him Apostol drove the back towards Marius Bilaşco at the near post and ended up in the back of the net after an opportunistic bounce.

Unirea Urziceni faces a massive match on Sunday against defending champion CFR Cluj whilst Farul Constanţa continues to search for a way out the relegation zone against Răzvan Lucescu's Braşov on Friday.

Unirea Urziceni defeats Gloria Bistriţa 3-0

Unirea Urziceni stayed within two points of first place Dinamo Bucureşti with a 3-0 thumping of Gloria Bistriţa.

Dan Petrescu's side took the 1-0 lead over the Vampirii Albaştri five minutes before the half-hour when George Galamaz headed in Pablo Brandán's cross from six metres out. With thirteen minutes left the margin was doubled as Dacian Varga displayed tremendous touch as he volleyed a long diagonal cross in from seven metres out. With six minutes remaining the match was 3-0 as a corner from the left was poorly played by Bistriţa 'keeper Călin Albuţ and flicked towards Raul Rusescu, resulting in the promising young striker volleying the ball in.

Unirea Urziceni returns to action against Farul Constanţa next week with Gloria Bistriţa continuing its relegation fight against FC Braşov.

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.

Dan Petrescu's Unirea Urziceni keeps winning

Unirea Urziceni maintained pressure on Dinamo Bucureşti for the top spot with a tough 1-0 victory over FC Vaslui, extending Dan Petrescu's side unbeaten streak to nine matches. The matches lone goal came thirteen minutes in as Sorin Frunză free-kick from the left was volleyed in by Marius Bilaşco on the right edge of the six-yard box. While the legendary manager for Unirea Urziceni had expressed concern of his clubs competitiveness due to financial constraints, they are well position to take the league championship.

On Saturday Dan Petrescu takes his side to face Politehnica Iaşi while Vaslui welcomes FC Braşov.

Unirea Urziceni coach Dan Petrescu on tough finances

Although only one point behind Dinamo Bucureşti in first place, Dan Petrescu is not optimistic of Unirea Urziceni's chances to win the championship due to financial restrictions. The club has suggest to Bogdan Mara and Jacob Burns that although they are welcomed back, to search out offers. Following an impressive scoreless draw against Ukraine powerhouse Shakhtar Donetsk he said:

"It was important to see we can hold our own against the big teams. The result gives us hope but it would be a miracle if we were to qualify for the UEFA Cup again. To achieve it we'll need hard work, discipline and players who want to achieve in life."

Of player moves Dinamo Bucureşti have added Claudiu Niculescu, who returns from being on-loan, Senegalese international Ousmane N'Doye from SC Vaslui and finalizing a deal to Cosmin Moţi from Sienna of Seria A. However both Bucureşti rivals have cut payrolls with Steaua Bucureşti losing captain Mirel Rădoi and Rapid Bucureşti emptied with Dănuţ Coman, Pierre Boya, Ionuţ Stancu, Daniel Paulista and Júlio César all leaving. The biggest addition to date is CFR 1907 Cluj signing of Serbian U21 striker Rade Veljović from FK Voždovac.