Bulgarian A-League wrap: Levski close on leaders

Levski Sofia kept the pressure on leaders Lovech after coming from behind for a 3-2 win over Lokomotiv Plovdiv on Saturday.

Yasen Petrov’s team, who inflicted Lovech’s first league defeat of the season on Sunday, again closed the gap to five points with three games remaining.

They went into the break 1-0 down after Senegalese striker Basile de Carvalho gave the hosts the lead, but midfielder Darko Tasevski levelled two minutes into the second half.

French forward Garra Dembele hit a brace in five second-half minutes, the first from the spot, to give Levski a two-goal buffer.

It proved to be handy as 35-year-old Zdravko Lazarov popped up to score a 94th-minute penalty, leaving Lokomotiv Plovdiv fifth.

Pirin Blagoevgrad moved further out of the relegation zone with a 6-0 thrashing of Akademik Sofia.

Midifelder Yanko Sandanski had them 1-0 up at the break, before Anton Karachanakov hit a second-half double along with goals from Dimitar Iliev and Dimitar Nakov.

They are now five points clear of 14th-placed Rakovski, while Akademik are three points from safety.

In other games, a Dimo Bakalov brace was not enough to help Sliven win, as they settled for a 2-2 draw at Montana.

The midfielder twice put his team ahead, but forward pairing Luiz Eduardo and Ventsislav Hristov pegged them back to leave Sliven bottom, four points from safety.

Chernomorets Burgas secured a 1-0 win over Minyor Pernik thanks to a 32nd-minute goal from Portuguese midfielder Braganca in a battle between two mid-table sides.

The win maintained his team’s hold of eighth, while Minyor Pernik are 10th.