Last-round 1:0 home win over Ural was what eventually helped Rostov to avoid finishing in the bottom four in a season that started with great promise, but very nearly ended with a disaster.
Rostov started the campaign with 4 wins in the opening 6 rounds, they went on to achieve just 5 more victories for the rest of the campaign, but after this very good start the RSMs entered a dreadful eleven-game winless run that eventually saw coach Kuchuk sacked after the 0:2 defeat vs. Dinamo in round 19.
Rostov managed to stay just above the bottom four during the winter break only because they ended 2017 with back-to-back home wins vs. Ufa and Anzhi and after the legend of Russian football Valeri Karpin agreed to take charge in January many thought that Rostov could make a run for the top six in 2018.
Karpin brought in seven new faces during the winter months, but none of his transfers in proved very successful and also the manager’s tactics quickly amassed heavy criticism as Rostov were not playing well.
The RSMs collected just two points from Karpin’s first five games in charge and the gaffer needed to thank mainly his very solid defence and the sparse forward contributions from Ionov and Shomurodov for avoiding the drop in the end. Once again just like at the end of 2017 Rostov managed to gather themselves in the last few rounds and it was their three consecutive home wins in rounds 26, 28 and 30 that allowed them to finish just outside the bottom four.
