Oleg Shatov's goal has helped Zenit St Petersburg to a hard-fought victory over Gent in the Champions League which keeps the Russian top of Group H.

Zenit had chances to take the lead in the early moments as Ezequiel Garay's menacing free kick brought a save of out Gent keeper Matz Sels.

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Sels was in action moments later as he made saves from Axel Witsel and Danny's flick-on from Nicolas Lombaerts header.

Andre Villas-Boas's men continued to apply pressure to the Belgian side's defence and nearly found a breakthrough, but Artyom Dzyuba failed to find the target after getting onto the end of Igor Smolnikov's pass.

They were nearly punished for their early misses when Renato Neto threatened to strike at Mikhail Kerzhakov's goal before Aleksandr Anyukov's slide tackle dispossessed the Brazilian.

Zenit finally broke the deadlock 10 minutes before half time as Dzyuba met Hulk's cross and sent his header beyond the reach of Sels.

Gent, who held Lyon to a draw in their opening group game, hit back on 56 minutes as Sven Kums was allowed to run into the Zenit box before his lofted pass was met on the volley by Thomas Matton.

However, the Russian side managed to restore their lead midway through the second half as Shatov was played in by Hulk before lifting the ball over an onrushing Sels.

Gent tried to find a late equaliser with Matton taking aim at the Zenit goal again, but he saw his effort blocked by Garay as Villas-Boas's side maintained their perfect start.