Bulgarian A-League wrap: Sofia hand Litex first league loss

Levski Sofia closed the gap on first-placed Litex Lovech to five points after recording a 2-0 win in their clash in the Bulgarian A-League.

A 74th-minute goal from striker Garra Dembele and a late sealer from 33-year-old midfielder Hristo Yovov inflicted Litex’s first league defeat of the season with four games remaining this campaign.

Lyuboslav Penev’s team had gone 25 matches without defeat before Sunday’s loss.

Rakovski kept their hopes of avoiding relegation alive after a 1-1 draw with Lokomotiv Sofia.

Forward Preslav Yordanov had given Lokomotiv the lead after a quarter of an hour, but they were forced to share the spoils when centre-back Aleksandar Branekov struck back on 60 minutes.

Rakovski are still in the bottom two but only on goal difference after collecting the point, while Lokomotiv Sofia are fourth with hopes of gaining a European spot all but over.

Bottom-placed Sliven almost snared an unlikely three points before eventually playing out a 1-1 draw with Slavia Sofia.

Midfielder Yacob Idrizov had given them the lead 17 minutes before full-time, only for Slavia striker Nikolay Bozhov to hit straight back three minutes later.

Sliven are two points from safety with Slavia sitting in ninth spot.

Beroe remain seventh after a strong 3-1 win over Akademik Sofia.

Although Petar Dimitrov opened the scoring in the 24th minute, his goal was cancelled out two minutes before half-time when Enco Malindi equalised.

Second-half goals from Vladislav Zlatinov and Brazilian winger Romario sealed the result, leaving Akademik sitting precariously in the relegation playoff spot.

In the day’s other game, Cherno More and Montana played out a 0-0 draw and both are sitting relatively comfortably in mid-table.