Ten-man Zenit St Petersburg claimed their first win in Champions League Group H at the expense of BATE Borisov on Wednesday.

Goals in each half from Pavel Pogrebniak and Miguel Danny were enough to lift Zenit off the foot of the standings, even though they played the last 17 minutes with one man fewer following the dismissal of Sebastien Puygrenier.

The Russians now have their sights on second-placed Real Madrid, who lost at home to Juventus, while BATE slip to the bottom of the pile without a win in four attempts.

Zenit were the first to catch a glimpse of goal in Borisov when Radek Sirl pushed his 25-yard drive past the left post.

The hosts could have opened the scoring soon after when Igor Stasevich's corner was fired goalwards by Pavel Nekhaychik, forcing Zenit keeper Viacheslav Malafeev to tip the ball round the post.

Pogrebniak then threatened to give the Russians the lead on the quarter-hour mark but he screwed his 20-yard effort narrowly wide.

Once again BATE hit back and a free-kick from Vladimir Rzhevskiy allowed Gennady Bliznuk a header which dipped inches over the bar.

It was turning into an entertaining half and Zenit did their best to keep that going as Anatoliy Tymoschuk's shot was acrobatically turned round the post by BATE goalkeeper Sergey Veremko after 23 minutes.

Pogrebniak then tried to get Zenit's nose in front but he could only head Andrei Arshavin's corner over the bar from 12 yards.

The striker made amends after 33 minutes though when Konstatin Zyryanov provided the pass for Pogrebniak to slam home from the centre of the penalty area.

Having gone in front, Zenit immediately set about stretching their advantage and Konstatin Zyryanov was frustrated to see his 25-yard bullet skim the bar, while Pogrebniak pushed another shot wide moments later.

BATE managed to get out of their own half as the interval approached and were unfortunate not to be back on level terms when Stasevich's free-kick was tipped away by Malafeev.

Zenit coach Dick Advocaat was relieved to see his team still in front at the interval, and Pogrebniak should have claimed his second goal after the restart but he somehow shot wide with only Veremko to beat.

It signalled another spell of pressure from the Russians as first Zyryanov sent his 25-yard drive over the bar before Veremko got his hands to another strike from Pogrebniak.

BATE chances were becoming few and far between but Bliznuk should have done better with his opening after 59 minutes which the midfielder whipped past the right post.

And they were given the boost they needed after 72 minutes when Puygrenier upended Vitaly Rodionov to earn his second yellow card and leave Zenit a man down.

The Belarusians immediately stepped up the pace but a goal still would not come as first Stasevich fired wide of the left post before Sergei Krivets whipped a free-kick narrowly over the bar.

It was starting to look like it would not be BATE's night and that was confirmed when they conceded a second goal on the stroke of full time as Danny found the bottom left corner with his left-footed drive.